This prank is funny but it also reveals a deeper truth, we are often too quick to judge.
Anyone who regularly rides a the subway is familiar with the train panhandler—he waits until the doors to the train close, so your trapped then he tells you his often sad story and finally asks for money. Most people are so use to this tactic that they pay no attention, turn up their music, engross themselves in a novel, or as a last resort, look at the ground. College Humor devised a prank that turns this panhandler stereotype on its head. To me it reveals both our assumptions about the poor and are need to listen to each others stories, wether they are stories of success or of failure. In fact, I think the reason we despise the story of failure is because it shows the cracks in our stories, in the American story.
//I think the reason we despise the story of failure is because it shows the cracks in our stories, in the American story.//
People avoid subway panhandlers in every major city in the world. It has nothing to do with “the American story.”