A 27-year-old from Mumbai is planning to sue his parents for giving birth to him without his consent. Raphael Samuel has made news around the world after reports emerged that he is taking his parents to court for giving birth to him. A committed antinatalist, he believes it is morally wrong of people to procreate as it only leads to misery and burdens the earth's resources.
Antinatalism is a school of thought that argues that human life is so full of suffering that people should stop having children for reasons of compassion.
Samuel wrote in a Facebook post that he loves his parents, but they had him for their own "joy and their pleasure." The post now seems to have been deleted, though other posts on antinatalism remain on his feed. "Why must I suffer? Why must I work? Someone had you for their pleasure," reads one of them.
In another interview to Latestly, Samuel explains: "Procreation is the most narcissistic act on Earth. Ask anyone why they procreate it will always start with 'I wanted.' Introducing a child into a world that is suffering is wrong. An antinatalist's agenda is to convince people to stop reproducing. Why? Because life involves a lot of suffering."
In a Facebook post this morning, he also shared his mother's views on his plans to sue her. "I must admire my son's temerity to want to take his parents to court knowing both of us are lawyers. If Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault," reads the post, attributed to Mr Samuel's mother, Kavita Karnad Samuel.
Samuel’s posts and videos have collected mixed reactions from people on social media.
“How were you supposed to get consent? The basis of this lawsuit is ridiculous. It doesn’t make sense. He sounds ignorant,” says one Facebook user. “I truly support you, people actually need to think about it before having a babies, but in reality they don’t much,” reads a comment on YouTube.
What do you think about this?