Editorial
Time for facts
There are many New Year's resolutions, both in our private and professional lives. From the classic "more sport" to "smartphone fasting", from sitting at your desk earlier to keeping your email inbox neat and tidy, everything is included in conversations about resolutions.
To be honest, I don't think much of New Year's resolutions because their half-life is quite limited. However, I do believe that resolutions and the making of resolutions have something good about them: They point out potential for improvement, share an opinion and are quite often a plea for a cause.
Speaking of pleas: in mid-January, Stefan Zecha, Chairman of the VDMA Precision Tools Association, criticized politicians for their "sometimes fact-free approach" to combustion engine technology. He pleaded with politicians to "take care of the framework conditions with a sense of proportion" and to "stay out of the technology discussions". Germany's engineers are perfectly capable of providing "the cleanest mobility" - you can read more about this here.
Clear words. And on a meta-level, they address something that has increased in recent months: an increasingly emotional discussion about essential issues, in which the facts tend to fall under the carpet and populism is used. The discussions concerned include climate change, dealing with increasing right-wing extremism, Trump and also the shortage of skilled workers and the partly related issues of the refugee crisis and immigration.
A discussion that is too emotionally charged can lead to facts being overlooked, ignored or misinterpreted. And it can lead to hasty and ill-conceived decisions with unforeseeable consequences - for the environment, the economy and society.
Perhaps that would also be a New Year's resolution that would survive January: To have passionate discussions, but to allow more facts and other perspectives and to question things more. Maybe that's the way to the next Golden 20s.
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