A 27-year-old Indian man is going viral after he announced an intent to sue his parents, claiming he didn’t give his explicit consent to bring him into the world.
Raphael Samuel, donning a fake beard and sunglasses, said in a YouTube video posted on Tuesday that he is suing his parents because he was conceived without his consent and therefore his parents should pay for his life.
“I want everyone in India and the world to realize one thing that they are born without their consent. I want them to understand that they do not owe their parents anything,” he said. “If we are born without our consent, we should be maintained for our life. We should be paid by our parents to live.”
“To children, I would like to say: do not do anything for your parents if you do not want to. If you want to, if you truly genuinely feel like doing it, do it,” he added.
Samuel has been reported as a follower of antinatalism, an increasingly popular yet bizarre ideology that believes that it’s morally wrong for people to procreate and takes a nihilistic approach towards human life, saying the humanity brings only suffering.
Despite his intent to sue, the man says his parents have no hard feelings towards him, while he actually loves them.
“I love my parents, and we have a great relationship, but they had me for their joy and their pleasure,” he told The Print last month.
“My life has been amazing, but I don’t see why I should put another life through the rigamarole of school and finding a career, especially when they didn’t ask to exist,” he said.
He also shared a Facebook post supposedly from his mother that appears to welcome the challenge from their son, with her allegedly saying “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,” she supposedly said.
In the YouTube video, Samuel also urges people to respect people’s actions rather than their age, pointing to the “myth” of respecting elderly people in India.
He also reiterates that the parents owe the children for bringing them happiness rather than children being grateful for their upbringing.
“Your parents are two people at the age of 20-25 who just wanted a good night together and then they had you,” he said. “You must love them if you feel like loving them,” he added.
Samuel’s Facebook page is filled with antinatalist material, sharing pictures that attack procreational sex and calling parents “hypocrites.”
“A good parent puts the child above is wants and needs… but the child itself is a want of the parent,” one image posted on his page reads. ”If parents truly know what is good for their children… why did they have them?” another image read.
Antinatalism is particularly popular in India amid skyrocketing population, with some raising concerns that such growth is unsustainable in the long term. Some antinatalists suggest India should replicate China’s “one child” policy to curb the growth.
foxnews.com