No, I think raising the question is just fine: if you tell a story about someone carrying more money than most Americans ever have in their bank accounts in their entire lives, in cash, on their person, you're describing something extraordinarily unusual.

Again: I'm not saying he's a heroin dealer, and I said that specific to avoid this pointless preening about how it's everyone's right to carry large amounts of cash on them. Sure, I'm fine with that; in fact: I think you will find it difficult to find anyone to take the other side of that argument on HN (and HN is a big, complicated place, giving you some idea of just how banal that argument is.) So let's assume that's not what I'm talking about.

If it helps, though this isn't really my intent, assume my subtextual allegation is that this story is copypasta.

There are stories everywhere. They are very varied. So no, one more story is actually detrimental, making the reader feel good "Oh, some silly unusual situation I would never find myself in". This is already all too common a position "Well, I have nothing to hide".

>if you tell a story about someone carrying more money than most Americans ever have in their bank accounts in their entire lives, in cash, on their person, you're describing something extraordinarily unusual.

I used to play poker semi-professionally. Traveling with upwards of $50k wasn't an uncommon thing at all among the people I knew.

I knew a card counter who was detained at an airport carrying well in excess of $100k and, comically, the money and the inside of his bag were covered in white powder at the time. Because he was a nerdy jewish kid, they believed his story that it was powdered caffeine (it actually was) and sent him on his way.

There's a rather famous court case about civil asset forfeiture involving somebody who had just closed on their house for cash. Cops stopped the car, decided the money was dirty, stole it.

Carrying a ton of cash is unusual, but does really happen.