What don't I understand?

Following on from here.

Before I responded to our growing list of points... as I was driving on my scooter between beaches in paradise yesterday, I was trying to figure out what it is that I don't understand about vegetarianism.

1. I don't like the extremists. I think they do any cause harm.
2. I don't accept the fact that not eating meat at all is a logical conclusion to saying that cruel practices exist.
3. What I don't understand is why someone would believe it is wrong to eat meat irrespective of whether it was cruely obtained or not.

I do accept and would understand someone saying I will not eat meat from anywhere I can not be certain that their practices are not cruel. I accept that you can determine your own threshold for what is cruel, and if you feel strongly enough about it not eat meat from any of those places.

But then you are not a vegetarian, i.e. someone who does not eat meat at all. You just object to animal cruelty and act accordingly. This may lead you to hardly ever eating meat... or

given enough support could lead to a measure of transparency where a new term is coined and an organisation `accredits' certain farmers for subscribing to minimizing cruelty.