“Symbols are incredibly arbitrary.”

- Prof.siri Hettige

Sociologist Prof. Siri Hettige emphasised on the arbitrary nature of symbols. “Symbols are incredibly arbitrary. A symbol can mean many things to different people. Symbols don’t mean anything to some people. They are all created by us to symbolise something significant.

Once they are accepted as a symbol, then people are prepared to die for them. This is what we see in this country. The world is not symbolic. The world is real. But real things are not given priority. If you take real issues into consideration, people should be coming together. Humanity is threatened by real problems,” he said.