Cigaretts and Communication

What? So how are these two things related? First some back story. I have two roommates one who smokes and the other with a nasty uppercut; know from experience. The first one, the smoker, made the other sware an oath that if he ever caught the smoker (smoking) to bust him in the face; for you see the smoker wanted to quit and only threat of his life would make him quit. Well the smoker started up smoking and the other roommate has just started to suspect him doing so. How can this be that someone could successfully have evade punishment for a month even though an entire floor of guys were aware of the situation?
It is important to remember in communication that no matter how trustworthy a person may seem they can and will still deceive. Individuals do what is in their best interest first. This is especially true in this situation. Despite the fact that the smoker has serious social flaws, he managed to gain support in his deception. This had nothing to do with any of his own abilities of persuasion it had to do with human nature. No matter how bad an underdog is society cant see him fail. This is because inspite what people thing society is often not attracted to the most power or authoritative force. They will resist the hegemonic force and participate in the deception.