You are not immune to propaganda
To the Editor,
Without preamble, I will simply dive into the misguided opinion piece included in the December 5 edition of the Beacon Hill Times. It is bold to begin an article with an assertion that everyone agrees that a controversial figure is a visionary. I will get to that point later, but I first would like to address the erroneous idea that driverless cars will solve, frankly, any issue in Boston.
Driverless cars do nothing to mitigate the real problems normal cars present to pedestrians and other drivers, which is inducing traffic and injuries to all road users. First, the cars are inefficient as has been documented many times, specifically of the cars being brought to a stand still by a simple traffic cone on the hood of the car and also not being able to navigate streets around other driverless cars. Believing this will solve traffic is misguided. Second, they still take up the same amount of space that regular cars do now. Nothing will be done about the lack of space in our city that has already been caused by ceding so much of it to the transportation of mostly single-passengers. The most important piece that will not be solved is the danger cars present to pedestrians, mainly injuries and death. In their rollout, as of October 2024, Tesla autopilot has been involved in the deaths of 43 individuals. 43 individuals that one Elon Musk said are necessary sacrifices to move forward.
The second error in the article was the praise of an oligarch who just recently bribed his way into the cabinet of the now president-elect. Elon Musk’s main interest is in platforming himself and this action forms the crux of the danger of our present-day media landscape. Musk is the same individual who bought an entire social media platform to signal boost his sycophants and silence his critics, such as banning individuals for using cisgender, an innocuous term he deems to be a slur. Boston must be wary to not fall for the same tactics as other parts of the country and view the actions of any one individual through a critical lens. Or else, you will be sold fool’s gold.
Tony Baez