The Creed

“To say that nothing is true, is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. To say that everything is permitted, is to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and that we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic.” - Ezio

I don’t know it for a fact but something tells me the original leads for story on Assassin’s Creed were exploring an anarcho-style philosophy with Ezio. Brotherhood especially has undertones of community building and fighting oppression, though basically every title has the latter. The series was never shy with its heavy leaning towards self determination paired with complete freedom vs the rigidity of dogma, strict conservatism and outright fascism. The Templars consistently attempt to mind control everyone to bring order & stability, deeming the masses too ignorant of what is best for themselves, whilst the assassin's praise self determination and freedom above all else even while they pledge themselves to an exacting creed. This is explored fairly in depth in the inaugural title of the series. 

Art always paves the way to the Overton window and what ideas are even given a chance to spread. Acceptability is at the far end of the hurdles an idea must overcome before it can take hold in a broader sense not just to a specific sub-culture/niche. Art and culture act as a trojan horse by which new or transgressive ideas are made more palatable in order to shift and move societal norms. Real activism and dutiful progressive collective action drives change, but the thing that tips a fringe or radical edgy new social movement is when ideas go from a bridge too far, to something that captures the emotions and vibes of the current moment. This can go a few different ways: a truly progressive movement is in place that will call out the unfairness and incongruence of the current systems, a charismatic leader could seize the moment to gain momentum for their own agenda, a movement under the guise of progress and righting the wrongs felt by the peoples comes in but ends up doubling down or making things worse than previously experienced.

The vacuum is the most important thing we need to avoid when the current system fails. If paradoxes of capitalism catch up with it, the left needs to be prepared with the functional building blocks of the system to replace it; working and open communities, co-ops already there to catch those peoples most in need of a place to put the energy and frustration they will have as they deal with the crumbling of a system that sold them eternal safety and ever increasing betterment but in reality used them as the stepping stones and grist for the mill to cater to the true audience of capitalism, for the 0.001%. We must ensure we don't allow the just feelings of wrongness to be used to lead those without a basis of political conscious to a more unjust or even more extremely asymmetric system.