Because of our desire for perfection, we Germans make ourselves incapable of acting, says cabaret artist Vince Ebert. You don’t build a constructive future with “German Angst” and panic. That’s why we have to think in new ways when it comes to making the world a better place.
“I want you to panic,” said Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos three years ago – a sentence that cabaret artist and author Vince Ebert finds little sense. “I can understand this statement, but at the same time we know from brain research that fear paralyzes clear, constructive thinking,” he says in the 394th episode “important today”. If you panic, you have three options: “Escape, play dead or attack”. None of this is an option for intelligently designing the future. “Lichtblick Instead of Blackout” is the name of Vince Ebert’s recently published book. Because it needs a positive vision of the future, says the author.
“German Angst”: When security concerns turn to pessimism
It’s just that we in Germany don’t find it easy to be optimistic. The Germans live their typical “German Angst”, Vince Ebert jokes in the podcast: “The most famous German inventions are the fun brake and travel cancellation insurance”. The cabaret artist spent some time in the USA, where he perceived the general mood to be much more optimistic, but there is still something to be learned with regard to the emerging countries, because the population there is also more optimistic about the future, because in the past many things have changed for the better over the years.
The Germans’ drive for perfection: “We are making ourselves incapable of acting”
From the point of view of the cabaret artist, the biggest problem of the Germans is the urge for perfection: “It makes us incapable of acting.” In addition, many technologies such as fracking or nuclear energy are ruled out in order to achieve the energy transition – for fear that something bad could happen. “We limit ourselves and you can’t really shape the future with that,” believes Vince Ebert. Therefore, the current energy crisis is self-inflicted for him. Germany made itself dependent and did not trust in its own abilities. Now it takes pragmatism. “We want to keep the global temperature stable at two degrees, but we can’t even get a simple airport built.” So you have to focus on what you can influence, says Vince Ebert, reconcile the great wishful thinking with reality, because one thing is certain for him: “The world will not end.”
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Source: Stern
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