HDR enthusiasts will argue (personally I don't care) that when you tone map from a single image source, you are not gaining any dynamic range. You're simply stretching the existing contrast via post processing. Therefore the same post-processed image can be achieved with a combination of adjusting histogram levels and brightness/contrast settings. It's not really HDR.
But we all know that some pics do look a lot better with a bit of post processing, so there's no question that the end-result is more artistically pleasing to some.
It would be nice if the HDR algorithms had a few sliders to control the amount of range you want. Most non-mobile HDR software allow for a lot of control. Someone brought up the analogy to auto-tune. Like auto-tune, there's tasteful HDR, and there's over-the-top HDR. In the end, it's all about what you want to achieve. There's no right or wrong in art