Your posts reek of intellectual dishonesty. It is not logical to conclude that he decided to be one kind of an asshole about one thing because being a different kind of asshole about a different thing wasn't popular. His response is based on his relation with the subject, not time or learning a lesson.
Both instances he is being an asshole. His response varies purely on how he feels about the subject. He did not "learn a lesson". I'm not sure how to make it any clearer for you.
