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There’s no two ways to say this: India has a population problem. Yes, kids are cute and adorable and what not, but there are just too many of them. And the best way to stop it is with proper population control plans and use of contraceptives. However, Raphael Samuel (an anti-natalist) has taken a rather skewed way to getting that message through.
Raphael Samuel recently announced that he’ll be suing his parents for giving birth to him without his consent. He told The Print that,
“I want to tell all Indian kids that they don’t owe their parents anything. 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.”
Now, I know it sounds really over-the-top, and you might be thinking “how can you ask an unborn baby, who can’t communicate, for their consent?”. But what he (and others like Pratima Naik and Alok Kumar) is probably trying to say is that we should stop procreating because it’s depleting our Earth’s resources. And, if you’re so eager to take care of a new life, why not go for adoption?
However, his message about saving Earth’s resources was eclipsed by his decision to sue his parents, leading to a lot of backlash. That’s why his mother stepped in and clarified a few things.
The mother speaks!I'm Raphael's mother and this is my response to the recent upheaval my son has created :1. I must…
Posted by Raphael Samuel on Tuesday, February 5, 2019
The points that Raphael’s mother, Kavita Karnad Samuel, makes are:
- 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.
- The media has focussed on a sliver of what Raphael believes in. His belief in anti natalism, his concern for the burden on Earth’s resources due to needless life, his sensitivity toward the pain experienced unwittingly by children while growing up and so much more has been ruefully forgotten.
I’m very happy that my son has grown up into a fearless, independent thinking young man. He is sure to find his path to happiness.
In a country where people are asked to respect their parents just because they’re your parents, it’s bold for Raphael to tell people to stop respecting the position of a parent and instead, respect them for the person they’re. And while his off-kilter take on saving mankind from eventual extinction is admirable as well, let’s hope it isn’t drowned by the noise that he has attracted.
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