A 27-year-old Indian man named Raphael Samuel is reportedly planning to sue his parents because he didn’t consent to being born. Samuel is part of a fringe group that go by “anti-natalists,” who believe that humans are bad for the planet and that it is wrong to reproduce.
The activists are more formally known as the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEM). It also seems that Samuel suffers from depression and is overwhelmed with the responsibilities that he is facing in adulthood. “Isn’t forcing a child into this world and forcing it to have a career, kidnapping, and slavery?” or “Your parents had you instead of a toy or a dog, you owe them nothing, you are their entertainment,” he wrote on a Facebook post.
Samuel’s Facebook page, Nihilanand, features dozens of memes with Samuel’s face and anti-natal slogans such as, “The only reason your children are facing problems is because you had them,” or “If you truly love your children don’t have them.”
Some of the content that Samuel creates seems too outlandish to be true, and has the makings of a perfect troll, but the the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement is a real thing, and he seems like a devout follower. More than likely, the lawsuit is a publicity stunt to raise awareness about his cause.
Some of the slogans speak specifically to economic problems like, “Isn’t forcing a child into this world and then forcing it to have a career kidnapping and slavery?” or “Why should I do anything? Because your parents had you one day and stopped paying for it! #makethempay”
Samuel also used the #Metoo hashtag when speaking about how he did not consent to being born. In one post, Samuel compared having a child to having a threesome without the consent of baby.
Many commenters on the page have asked Samuel to kill himself, so he recently posted this meme in response:
Surprisingly, Samuel says he has a good relationship with his parents. “I love my parents, and we have a great relationship, but they had me for their joy and their pleasure. 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,” Samuel told The Print.
“Other Indian people must know that it is an option not to have children, and to ask your parents for an explanation as to why they gave birth to you,” Samuel added.
In a YouTube Video titled, “DON’T respect your parents, unless you want to“, Samuel makes the case that having a child is a selfish act, that puts unwanted responsibility onto a child who never asked for it.