In case you were wondering, this is every bit as stupid as it sounds in the headline,
A 27-year-old Indian man plans to sue his parents — with whom he admits to having a good relationship — because they brought him into the world without his consent.
…Raphael Samuel of New Delhi said that children aren’t indebted to their parents and that children should ask their mothers and fathers “for an explanation as to why they gave birth to you.”
“I want to tell all Indian kids that they don’t owe their parents anything,” Samuel told India’s The Print. “I love my parents, and we have a great relationship, but they had me for their joy and their pleasure.”
He added, “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’s belief is part of a system called “anti-natalism,” which promotes the notion that children shouldn’t be forced to be born, especially at the expense of the planet.
…Samuel even went on to compare childbearing to both kidnapping and slavery.
This sounds like a tough case on a number of fronts.
For one thing, even if you agree that the parents were at fault, haven’t they already paid reparations with all the time and money they spent on their admittedly failed attempt to raise a sane, successful child?
Additionally, if Raphael is saying that his life has been amazing, doesn’t that undercut his case? If we’re really getting down to the brass tacks, doesn’t the fact that he hasn’t killed himself undercut his case? Basically, what he’s complaining about at this point isn’t that he was born at all: it’s that he has to get a job which just makes him a lazy bum, not a kidnap victim or a slave.