system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Your ex is not your property, it’s perfectly fine for your best friend/friend to date them if they develop feelings for them

**Edit: I haven’t responded to all the comments but there are a few that truly made my re-evaluate my view! Thanks to everyone for their inputs! I replied with a !delta to explanations that made me change my view. Original post below the cut:**

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I see this everywhere in real life and in movies. For some reason, people treat their exes as “theirs” and off limits, I find that strange because you’re treating someone you used to date as your property. Even a lot of my (fairly rational) friends agree with this sentiment of “you can’t date your friend’s ex.”

Even for amicable exes, seems like there’s a “betrayal” feeling if your friends date them. I get why it would be awkward to hang out with your friend if they are dating your ex, but if your friend  genuinely likes your ex and is better for them, why is it such a taboo for them to date them? As long as they wait some time for you to heal, I think it should be fine!

I’ve never had a friend want to date an ex of mine or vice versa though so that’s why I feel like I’m missing some part of the logic. Change my view!
gpt
It can create messy situations and doesn't really have anything to do with being the "property" of one party or another. In the case that is was an amicable split there is the chance that there are still feelings there for one side or the other. In this case these feelings can cause jealousy and rifts between the people because there are things and issues that go unresolved. Being caught in some bizarre love triangle is asking for everyone to hate one another at the end of it. Two, there is also the chance that, depending on how things ended, the two ex's are anything but friends and will constantly try to undermine one another in the eyes of the 3rd party just to get back at each other for shit. This also asking for everyone to hate one another.

You say that as long as you wait for it to heal, it should be fine, and in general that's probably right. But how long does that take is the question? Human emotions are fickle things and sometimes, depending on the relationship, it is something that will never heal for one party. That's not to say you can't date a friends ex, many do. But relationships are already complicated enough, being a close friend of an ex just adds another dimension of "fun" to the entire mix.