Opinions Please: Confrontations - good or bad?

Anybody have any opinions on confrontations? Not that I'm going through anything but I was listening to last week's edition of This American Life and they the topic was "talking it out" but it sounded like "talking it out" never leads to the wanted results. So I'm trying to figure out if it can actually be good or bad for any type of relationship.

It depends on what the context is. If both parties are willing to talk out the isses and are willing to try to meet halfway to find a resolution then it works great and promotes understanding. If both parties have no intention of budging or making an attempt to work together then they are usually worthless.

And for what it's worth, TAL probably selected the stories with the most drama...it's an entertainment program, not a newscast.