Order vs Freedom: A Paradox

One of the most popular video game series of all time released its first installment in 2007. The game was called Assassin's Creed, and it explored the relationship between two ancient groups that had been fighting for years and would continue to do so through the present day. On one side, you had the assassin's. The games have always featured an assassin as the protagonist, and because of this, you are encouraged to view them as the "good guys". This of course makes the other group, known as the Templars, the "bad guys". Each have many members, with complicated motives and beliefs, but to make a very long story short, the Templars favor order and stability, but will inevitably have to control humanity in order to achieve it. The assassin's are the opposite, fighting for the freedom of all people, even if it means a society that's disorganized and maybe even violent.

And even though there's clearly one side you're supposed to root for, I can't help but see the merits of both viewpoints. Order does have it's merits, especially when you're goal depends on consistency. But at the end of the day, I don't think I could ever give up freedom. It just seems like one of the most basic of human rights that would just be impossible to live without, no matter the benefits that order brings to a society like ours.  And yet it seems to be happening. Freedoms that were at one time commonplace are now privileges only afforded to a few.

A good example is the TSA. Every year, a combination of new "studies" and post-911 paranoia result in restrictions that at times seem to take away just for the sake of taking away. Why does a 5 inch blade qualify as a dangerous weapon but a 4 inch one is just... a toy?  It's these kinds of situations that reaffirm my belief that at the end of the day, freedom is more valuable than order.