things I don't understand - baseballs and bullet holes

The question had originally come up in my mind quite a number of years ago, but a recent reminder brought the issue to the forefront.

I was driving along and at a stop light, I noticed that the car in front of me had a baseball that had hit their back windshield, cracking it, and the ball was still stuck there. OK, it's not real - it's one of those fake ones. I'd seen those previously but hadn't really noticed them lately. At first glance, it's kind of amusing, I guess, but I'm not sure I understand going to the expense (even though they're not all that expensive) and trouble of making it look like my car had been severely damaged. Maybe I just don't have that kind of sense of humour? I'm figuring the actual situation happens on a regular basis, whether it's at a ballpark where a major league baseball player might actually hit a ball out of the park and into a parking lot, presuming there are still baseball stadiums designed that way. Or it could happen at a local park with a baseball diamond or even as a result of playing baseball on a neighborhood street. When the real situation arises, I would imagine it's not a particularly happy or funny event for the owner of the vehicle, so I guess I'm not sure why faking it is particularly amusing.

But even more puzzling to me is something I saw multiple years ago, when I was seeing more of these fake baseball-in-windshield deals. I was driving along and noticed that the car in the next lane had, not a fake baseball in the windshield, but FAKE BULLET HOLES ALL OVER THE CAR. It was on the side of the car, on the front and passenger doors and elsewhere in the "metal" of the car as well as the windows, and it was also on the back windshield and trunk. Seriously? Really. Ummm, ok, so what's the status symbol or joke or WHATEVER about pretending that your car has been riddled with bullets? That's supposed to be funny? Or cool? I'm supposed to look at that and think it's the best thing in the world? If anyone I knew actually drove up in a car like that, I'd probably stare at them as if they'd just sprouted three heads.

I don't get it.