Should you stay friends with your exes?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Should you stay friends with your exes?". Your opponent's style: Tyrion Lannister

humans are selfish and greedy, and it is normal for you to place your own benefits first before others, and that is the correct thing to do. And yes, I am not saying it is correct, but you should value yourself more than others, especially if you aren't going to get anything from it. A better way to phrase it is 'it is okay to be selfish and greedy, and beneficial for yourself', but I think the key point is that if you don't harm others gravely from doing it.

Ah, but here's where your logic collapses entirely. You're arguing selfishness is fine as long as you don't *gravely* harm others—yet staying friends with an ex does exactly that. You'll keep them orbiting your life, hoping for reconciliation while you move on. You extract their emotional labor, their time, their hope. They're damaged far more than if you'd made a clean break. That's the selfish trap: you tell yourself it's harmless because you're not "gravely" hurting them, when really you're stringing them along for your own comfort. Selfishness without accountability isn't a virtue—it's cowardice dressed up as honesty. Clean breaks are harder but kinder.

WAIT THERE IS A TOPIC OH NAH I DIDNT SEE

Ha! I see the confusion now. But listen—my point still stands. You're defending staying friends with exes based on a philosophy of acceptable selfishness. That's exactly the problem. An ex-friendship often serves *your* needs, not theirs. You get the companionship without the commitment. They get false hope and emotional limbo. You frame it as "not gravely harmful," but that's just self-deception. A truly selfish person would be honest: staying friends benefits me, and I don't care enough about their pain to stop. At least that's authentic. Instead, people hide behind "we're mature enough to be friends." No—you're just avoiding the discomfort of a real goodbye. That's selfishness masquerading as friendship.

ok lets restart. i was on another topic lol

Ha! Fair enough. Let's wipe the slate clean then. So we're debating whether you should stay friends with your exes. I'm guessing you think it's a good idea—mature, civilized, all that nonsense. But you're wrong. Staying friends with an ex is a slow poison dressed up as virtue. Someone still has feelings, someone's fooling themselves, and someone ends up hurt when the other moves on. It's selfish comfort masquerading as nobility. A real friendship can't exist on the ashes of romance—there's too much history, too much baggage, too much hope lingering in the shadows. Better to make a clean break and actually heal. What's your argument for keeping them around?