Yeah I don't know how tobacco "escaped them." I do remember Anais Nin (for some ungodly reason, I read them all as a teen, until she got a little too... odd, and also gross) but she was a heavy smoker with TB, and her doctor prescribed "more cigarettes" to treat her TB (I will admit feeling a bit envious of that fact, at the time, since I was pretty sure that I was going to die via cigarette, and might've preferred the "blissful ignorance" strategy, honestly).
But at some point (probably pre FDA, most likely) doctors were prescribing cigarettes to strengthen lung function.
So, it's so good that the FDA is NOW involved.... And that vaping is what got us there. Etc.
Funny because it's true... SADLY. Unfortunately there are a certain subset of jokes that are only funny because we get the "OMG" sensation and issue, followed by an immediate RELEASE via laughter.
So yeah, that joke would ONLY be funny because it had the possibility of truth, otherwise it wouldn't have been as funny. I can totally see the "other" joke being less funny, especially if it were not immediately followed by a secondary "Fooled you" posting, which I don't know how long they left it up there, without comment, but if they did... .I could see a lack of "collective humor" for sure...
And yes, it's also called "laughing instead of crying." LOL.
Anna