Dear Pam: It’s Not That We Are Afraid to Die.

The crowd catches Wes Borland’s guitar during the Lollapalooza music festival last weekend at Grant Park in Chicago. CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images, NPR (Aug. 6, 2021).

Pam is a perfect example of why armchair PhDs can be fatal.

I read an exchange between my sister and her friends about the wisdom of hosting or attending potential COVID superspreader events. Take your pick: this Sunday’s 2021 Sturgis Rally, Day 1, Obama’s birthday party last weekend, yesterday’s Colorado Rockie’s Game, last month’s Lollapalooza. There are plenty to choose from, and they span the nation’s political, ideological, and race spectrums.

One friend — let’s call her Pam — was all-in for living our best lives. We should vax, we can wear masks if we want, and YOLO so lemme see you shake your tailfeather! In that typical anti-social distancing way, Pam argued against sheep mentality by loudly, you know, baaaaaaaaaaaa-ing.

Fans listen to a musical performance at Coors Field after the ninth inning of Sunday’s game. SOURCE: CNN (Aug. 9, 2021).

“I personally am glad [Sturgis] is happening!!” she said. “We are all a bunch of f…ing sheep. Yes the delta version is out there and yes covid can and will spread but, so does the flu, every year there is a new flu strain, I know that covid isn’t the flu but, I think we are being lied to and convinced the the world is ending and that if we just all get vaccinated then continue to stay…