Well, to be honest, I used to get frustrated that way. Sometimes I would end up using an object that is cheaply made, and I found out it's from another country, or recycled, etc., well, that didn't help solidify my opinion in quality products from those sources. Maybe that's all it meant, since I might've said something like that as well, at the same time knowing it's not the actual root cause of poor quality.
It's possible. He definitely was not thrilled about the quality of the pen. Although he does not had a high opinion of environmentalism in general. He associates it, mentally, with "liberals" which he also has a low opinion of and just generally "idealistic dreamer" types. You know, the kind of people who might kill 10 people to save 1 tree.
Not saying that liberals or environmentalists are like that, but in his mind...
