Sometimes you just have to laugh at clown world when you would otherwise feel helpless. And even before things got as bad as they are today, laughing was a defense mechanism for many people. The same way people will read a crime story and rationalize how they wouldn't be as stupid or caught off-guard as the victim, so they don't have to empathize or admit that they could be in the same situation and the world is a scary place.

I'm not really justifying making light of things, just giving a reason why people do.