It was disheartening the National Convention of Higher Education was cancelled when at the weekend after chaos erupted and chairs and water bottles went flying through the air. The distraught former deputy chief justice, Dikgang Moseneke, had to cancel the proceedings due to safety considerations for the participants — students vice-chancellors and other high-profile people. The major problem in today’s society is that we only want to listen to those with whom we agree and shut out all opinions to which we are opposed. There is no dialogue and so reaching a compromise is impossible. Consequently, we no longer learn how others feel or why they feel this way. We live in ignorance of the other side and see the world as opposing camps, when in reality we have more in common than we think or want to know. That is why extremism has taken hold of much of our society. Without dialogue there is no hope for unity or finding solutions to our problems. JM BouvierBryanston
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