Data are abundant, quantitative information about the state of society and the wider world is around us more than ever. Paradoxically, recent trends in the public discourse point towards a post-factual world that seems content to ignore or misrepresent empirical evidence. As statistics educators we are challenged to promote understanding of statistics about society. In order to re-root public debate to be based on facts instead of emotions and to promote evidence-based policy decisions, statistics education needs to embrace two areas widely neglected in secondary and tertiary education: understanding of multivariate phenomena and the thinking with and learning from complex data.