To be fair, he didn't say this was the goal. He said that's where it originated. Behaviors can morph over time and they often do when organizations forget why policies were put into practice in the first place.

I used to volunteer at a shelter years ago when I was in college. I can confirm there was a problem (and probably still is) with people adopting animals into abusive homes. A lot of them made their way back to the shelters eventually. A lot don't. People used to adopt small passive breeds to train the pit bulls with, get them used to killing before putting them in a ring with a bigger dog that can fight back. People do a lot of fucked up things.

I also agree with you that it's turned into something nasty, a way to judge people. Why waste an opportunity to something else that's fucked up, right? I'm sorry you were rejected.

There's nothing wrong with buying from a breeder. There are other options to widen your search.

Local Veterinarian. Depending on where you live, sometimes local veterinarians will take in abandoned animals and try to regime them. Longer term shelters sometimes take dogs from these Veterinarians. Call them up and see what they say.

Craigslist/Facebook/classified ads. People sometimes will try to rehome their pet themselves before turning it over to a shelter. Also, sometimes their pets have "accidents" and you can get a mixed breed puppy they didn't intend.

Flea markets. I have yet to go to a flea market that hasn't had someone trying to get rid of unwanted puppies or kittens.

Place your own ad.

Finding your own stray and taking them in. Some of my best pets were strays. My first pet was a stray that showed up at my great aunt's house. We were like two peas in a pod. I had a cat my dad brought home from the airport. A parakeet I found outside on my bicycle handlebars, another cat my grandma found and gave to me. There were others. But, they either were claimed by their owners and returned, didn't survive the sorry state we found them in, were birds so I wasn't allowed to keep them because of my mom's ornithophobia (there was an incident involving a chicken), or weren't actually pets, so they had to be released back into the wild (except for that opossum, obviously, as it was way too young).

Anyway, hope you find a pet. They really fill out one's life.