Karl du Fresne: Being sincerely motivated doesn't make it right

The International Film Festival has done the rounds of the provinces for another year. Normally I would seize the chance to binge on movies of the type that don’t usually make it to the town where I live, but this year I managed to see only one: a New Zealand documentary called The 5th Eye.

You’ll be familiar with the subject matter. The three central characters sabotaged a satellite dish at the Waihopai electronic spy facility in 2008.

Karl du Fresne: Heaven protect us from self-righteous zealots

We tend to think of idealism as a good thing. Idealists want the best for the world and for humanity – or so we assume. Who could possibly object to idealism, then? Yet idealism can be perverted. It can morph into zealotry and fanaticism. People can become so convinced of the correctness of their ideals that they feel able to justify almost any action aimed at fulfilling them.