To the person who happens to be reading this manifesto, I want to tell you that you, I, and society as a whole are too late. I don't mean that in a sense of catching me and placing me behind bars. Humanity as a whole is doomed because no one wishes to listen to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Wouldn't it be polite if I were to properly introduce myself, especially since you have been hunting me down for months, or hell, even years at this point?
To tell you the truth, introducing myself is impossible. Ever since my first kill, I have rejected myself. I have no need for a name, face, voice, gender, or ethnicity. When I wake up, I cover my body with long sleeved clothing to protect myself from the harsh reality outside, and to hide my natural self from all who pass me on the streets. It's been so long since I have bothered to look at my face and hear my voice. As you have no doubt seen in my videos of my latest kills, I always use a distorted text to speech voice to talk. My face is always hidden by a mask. Perhaps one day it will be a kitsune mask as the people of Japan use in their plays, or perhaps it will be the severed head of a teddy bear who died in vain to serve me. It's been so long since I have bothered to look at myself in the mirror. I have become so used to a fake face that I feel no need to remove my masks anymore. Internally I wear a permanent mask as well. The me before I began to kill is now locked away. I have forgotten my voice too. Either I write or I ask machines to talk on my behalf. Even alone, I only talk to myself internally. I have rejected my name as well. I feel like the name my parents granted me no longer suits me. As such, I have decided to call myself Icarus. I have constructed my own set of wings to escape the Hell I call life. However, I refuse to fly too close to the sun. My plans and my kills are always calculated. I never leave behind evidence and I always send you fools on wild goose chases in hopes of learning more information about myself.
Why not put all of this time and effort into ending world hunger, curing cancer, or solving the remaining Millenium Prize Problems? It's so funny that you care so much about a nobody who is better off dead and is probably already dead by the time you finally solve my damn riddles. When will you accept that every one of my games is nothing more than a red herring? And yet here you are trying to solve them just for fame and fortune so you can say that you solved a mystery.
While I have your attention and you're scanning this little manifesto for supposed clues, why don't I take the opportunity to tell you about my personal philosophy. After all, that's the whole point of a manifesto, isn't it? I'll have plenty of time too. It's not like you'll be able to catch me by the time I finish writing this. Who knows? Maybe if you're not close minded, you'll change your view on some subjects. Now where to start?
When I look at a person, all I see is a person. I cannot tell their personality. It's impossible for them to be good or evil. They're flawed and complex. They cannot be a monolithic black or white force. And yet people are so quick to observe someone and label them as good or bad because something inside them tells them that this person has good or bad qualities or that they like the same things they do. As such, they only make friends or interact with people on a daily basis based on how they choose to observe that person. And at the end of the day, it's still a person. Even objects are subject to judgment. Not as in favourite or least favourite food or media. To the right person, any object can be a weapon they can use to kill or a gift they can use to bribe. Even fears determine what an object is. To most, a clown is a cheap source of laughs relegated to kids' birthday parties, while to others they are demons whose only goal is to torment them until they go insane or kill themself. Observation changes what is being observed.
Colour doesn't exist. If I look at an apple and claim it's blue, it's because I interpret it as blue. Most would say red because of science or that it was what they were taught, but do we truly have evidence that an apple is red? Just because someone out there said it was red, we're all meant to believe that it's red? If people can read auras differently and see different colours, why can't the same logic apply to everything? If you say that grass is green, it's only because the relationship between the grass, the light, and your mind causes you to interpret it as green. To me, grass is red, and the sky is green. People say otherwise, but my mind chooses to interpret it differently. I'm not talking about colourblindness. I'm talking about personal interpretation. Do you listen to others when they tell you that this is black text on a white background, or will you find your own colours?
I am a killer, but in the end it doesn't matter. Why? Because I'm a person just like the rest of you. I'm complex, flawed, and imperfect; just like the rest of the doctors, teachers, lawyers, and all the other professions in the world. Even unemployed people are just that. People. When we die and go to Heaven or Hell, God and Satan won't care what we did for a living or for a hobby. They only see us as a person. I expect God to welcome me to Heaven with open arms because I'm still a person. I choose to kill, but I'm a person nonetheless. Don't I just need to ask for forgiveness and thus be granted instant access? If so, what's the point of even having Satan and Hell if you can just ask God for forgiveness and then you're seen as a clean slate and just a person?
Let X be any sort of fact, statement, opinion, or question. If someone were to tell you that X is not true, what could it be? X cannot be false. If someone else were to interpret X differently, they could claim X as true rather than the person who told you that X is not true. X cannot be indeterminate. X cannot exist without a determined definition. In this case: not true. X cannot be X. We all know that X is X. However, we choose to interpret X in a different way ignoring its basics of being X. Because we have already absentmindedly accepted X as X, we are searching for our own personal definition of X. X cannot be a loop. If X were a loop, could it truly be considered X if it never ended? X cannot be a rule. All the rules and laws of the universe must be obeyed in order for society to function according to those who make the rules and discover the laws of science. If X were to break, it would no longer be X and would thus lead to the creation of a new and improved X that is not the original X. Therefore: X is meaningless.
Let's say that you're taking a walk and you step into a river. If you were to turn around and head back, stepping in the same river would be impossible. After you have stepped in the river, you added your own essence. Your own cells and style of walking. In addition, the water that was once in that river has moved on. It's no longer in the river and has been replaced with brand new water. Also, the rocks and fish within the river have reacted to your presence and changed their worldview accordingly. They are not the same creatures you originally encountered. The old river has been corrupted thanks to you. This is not limited to rivers alone. From the food you eat to the people around you, everyday you kill everything you interact with. Isn't it strange how some people refuse to accept the concept of life after death, when all living things are ouroboroses, living and dying every second as they experience life?
Our minds are constantly flooded with sensations. Every second, our mind is thinking and creating. However, it is impossible to comprehend these thoughts. It's too much for our species to handle. If our minds were to process every single sensation at once, we would go insane. Our minds categorize these sensations according to our beliefs. Someone's mind may see something as normal, while the others may see it as weird, funny, or offensive. That's not to say that processing every sensation at once is impossible. I mean, look at me. I achieved dizzying heights due to my mind processing everything at once. Sure, call me insane, but at least I can fully comprehend reality.
I find it ridiculous as to how atheists can exist when God is real. After all, we all have a voice in our head, and that very voice is God. If God is always watching over us and telling us what to do and not do, wouldn't it make sense to say that God is the voice in our head? In essence, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the Id, Ego, and Superego. I bet that some of you reading this are thinking that you don't have a voice in your head. Well guess what? The voice that just told you that you don't have a voice in your head is the voice in your head and is therefore God.
No one is perfect. Nothing is perfect. If so, then why do whole numbers exist? If we keep saying that nothing is perfect, then shouldn't 1 = 0.9̅? Whole numbers are only a paradox meant to make us endlessly chase perfection and give us false hope. The Golden Ratio is endless and is found in all sorts of designs and objects considered beautiful. This one number which gives us beauty is endless and imperfect. How can such a number exist alongside whole numbers? Whole numbers are lies. If you only look at life with whole numbers, you will limit yourself as a human.
People are always searching for the truth. They want a way to prove that they're right, or that someone else believes something false. Sure, the truth exists, but not everything is true. Blind belief is worse than lying. Some people try to find flaws in others' arguments. Their opponent's version of the truth exists, but just because that truth exists doesn't mean that it's true. Even your versions of the truth aren't necessarily real. It's impossible to verify whose thoughts and opinions are true compared to factual evidence. As such, we will never be able to truly agree on anything.
If you were to take a test, obviously you would study beforehand to get a good grade, right? Let's say that someone refuses to study either to other more important obligations or because they want to rebel against the education system. Sure, they would get a rather low grade, but if they were to study after the test seeing what they got right and wrong, they are a genius. Why? Because they are still curious and want to improve. If you were to avoid studying no matter what, be it before or after, it doesn't matter how much you know or don't know. You are an idiot.
Two people are standing by a lake. One of them says "That's a lovely reflection in the water." The other one says "I see no reflection, but it's a fascinating assortment of fish, plants, and rocks within the water." They are both lying. The first person is not looking at the water. They are using the water as an excuse to exhibit narcissism. They interpret themself as superior to water. One of the things that we need to survive. The other person is correct in that there is no reflection in water alone. However, they perceive water as containing fish, plants, and rocks. They see the beauty of nature, and yet when looking at something so basic and necessary for life, they see it as boring and choose to divert their attention to imaginary fish, plants, and rocks. They cannot see the water itself. As such, they are not enlightened.
Whenever someone says "it is dark outside," do they ever stop to wonder what it is? The sky is dark at night, so shouldn't we say "the sky is dark outside?" Why do we always refer to a monolithic "it". Does this "it" refer to some presence that we cannot or choose not to comprehend? Are we simply too lazy to take a step back and wonder what exactly "it" is? Is God the "it" of which we speak? It is one of the most basic and fundamental words of English, and since God is treated with such honour and respect, wouldn't it make sense to implement God's presence whenever we can by personifying Him as an "it"?
The mathematical operation known as addition is modeled after our desire for more materialistic gains. Addition is one of the major concepts of mathematics which shapes our society as we know it. Without addition, we would be unable to determine how much we own or how much new things we have gained or require to give away. If it weren't for our greed, we wouldn't have any desire to count. Due to math's very role in the advancements of society as a whole, greed was the one thing that stemmed this search for knowledge. Society and life as a whole is built upon greed.
Reality is similar to the concept of the news feed on Facebook due to our desire of wanting to only show others the highlights of our lives, and to find people or things that seem cringey to us that we want to point and laugh at, or people with differing opinions and IQs whom we want to argue with and be seen as superior to. Ultimately, social media only fuels our ids and superegos. By seeing all the negativity in the world, and all the things outside of the norm, it only drives us mad and fills us with relief over the fact that we're not the subject. We never use social media as a way to connect. We use it as an escape and as a way of making ourselves feel like we're stronger and more experienced than those who try to create yet get laughed at. Just like reality, the algorithms and the corporations tell us when to panic, who to shun, condemn, and laugh at; and who to praise as a genius.
That's enough of my personal philosophy. In fact, I bet none of you even bothered to read it all! You just want to find me, don't you? You don't want to listen to a word I have to say. You just want to put me behind bars so you can get your paycheck. Sure, you can put me behind bars because I'm a killer, but do you know what's scarier than being hunted by a killer? Understanding and sympathizing with a killer. Why don't I tell you about why I turned to killing?
I was born normal. That is, with no known mental conditions whatsoever. It seems that everyone in this city has a mental condition and as such, has a higher intellect than the average person. With me being "average" due to my lack of a mental condition, this caused me to be alienated. I remember people telling me that vaccines caused my normality, which couldn't be further from the truth. It wasn't long before the people at the government got word of me. As such, they just had to see what was wrong with me and try to make me normal in terms of having a mental condition like everyone else. I experienced everything from drugs to neurosurgery.
Now that the experiments are done, I'm now the smartest person in the city. How do I know this for sure? I hallucinated during the experiments. I saw people watching me from outside of a box. This world that we live in doesn't exist. If other creatures outside of this realm can exist, then this world that we all live in must be a fabrication created by them. I kill to free others from this Hell. I should be a hero to you. I'm helping you all open your eyes and ascend to a higher plane! Sure, call me insane due to the drugs, my normality, or whatever! Just know that I am a hero! One of these days, when this world we live in comes crashing down, you'll wish that you could have let me hear your screams and cover myself in your blood! Go ahead! Arrest me! Kill me! Do whatever you want with me! If you don't want freedom, then have fun rotting in Hell!
-Icarus