One Bad Apley Can Spoil the Bunch

Following up on my article here of a couple weeks ago when I wrote, “I have grown weary of reading stories about people in the hospital with critical cases of COVD-19 who now, on second thought, regret that they didn’t get vaccinated,” we have a continuation.  And alas, I suspect we will have a lot of continuations...

First, though, to be clear, what I also wrote was that I’m terribly sorry to hear that these people are seriously ill, and I hope they recover.  I don’t like hearing that anyone is infected, and worse that anyone dies.  And I’m glad to know that they do now want to tell people to get the vaccine.  Those are important words to hear.”

But my sympathy is far more for the people they might have infected.  Who might have infected others.  Who may have died.  While infecting others.  And letting the pandemic go on.

So, the latest is the story of H. Scott Apley.  He gets the centerpiece for what he represents far too often, which is why the pandemic has spiked in far too many areas across the country.  Mr. Apley came to notice as a councilmember of Dickinson, Texas and a member of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee.  He has sadly died from COVID-19.

Why this is important is that the Daily Beast described Apley as "a staunch conservative and devout Christian," who had a long history of being anti-mask and posting anti-vax propaganda on social media.

Only three months ago, Apley wrote about a 'mask burning' being held in Cincinnati, adding “I wish I lived in the area!”  The previous month, he wrote about how “Disgusting” he thought giveaways and incentives were for encouraging vaccinations.  And he was outspoken in his agry criticism of vaccine passports, which he thought gave unfair advantages to people who were fully vaccinated.  Last month, he wrote about how he believes mask mandates were like “Nazism.”

(To be clear, the only thing “mask mandates” have in common with “Nazism” are the letters “a,” “s,” “n” and “m.”)

 I’m very sorry that H. Scott Apley was infected with COVID-19 and deeply regret that he died.  But that he was an elected official and a high-level executive of the Texas Republican Party – and was so aggressive in his efforts to block vaccinations and masks – means he was a loud voice in influencing a great many people to avoid such protections.  From which we can only imagine how many hundreds or thousands of people got infected from the coronavirus – who infected hundreds or thousands more – who infected even more hundreds or thousands.  From who we can only be furious at how many of these many thousands died. 

All of which has allowed infections to spike and spread and let the pandemic continue, and mutate into the even more dangerous and contagious Delta variant, which is likely to mutate into an even more contagious new variant.

I sense that a lot of the country is now getting beyond the “If someone doesn’t want to get the vaccine, don’t tell them off, be understanding and listen to their reasons and see if you can convince them” stage.  I suspect that a lot of the country has entered the “This is insane, there is a vaccine and it can stop serious illness and help end the pandemic, and if you don’t want to take it, yes, that’s your personal choice but you risk killing others and your personal choice brings personal consequences, and one of those personal consequences is that you are not welcome here to infect others” phase.

And it’s on the Republican Party.  All this hell that has been prolonged, all this added, unnecessary death.  It’s the H. Scott Apley Republicans of the world and all their ilk on the local and national who are to blame. 

I’m very sorry for his death.  And sorry for the deaths of other Republican leaders.  I’m much more sorry for all the people who have been infected and died as a result of listening to their party leadership that has help extend the pandemic.

And I suspect I’ll be writing more articles like this.  Because far too many Republican leaders have become maniacal in their cultish fervor, still crying out to put away your fire hoses as the inferno burns around them.

The other day, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wrote on social media that he tested positive for COVID-19, though because he’d been vaccinated his symptoms were light, and they could have been worse if he hadn’t been vaccinated.  And he left it at that.  Well…no, his symptoms might not have been “worse” if he hadn’t been vaccinated – if he hadn’t been vaccinated, he might have died.  What Lindsey Graham should have written was that this is deadly serious, folks, this vaccination may have saved my life, and it has likely saved the lives of tens of thousands of Americans, if not hundreds of thousands, so please please please please pleased get a vaccination, because it’s safe and can save your life.  And the lives of those around you.

But he didn’t say that.  He just said the symptoms might have been worse, so phew.  Because he’s a Republican leader, like all the H. Scott Apleys.  Helping continue the pandemic and killing off his party’s base, one dangerous, selfish ignoramus at a time.