HDR, or Horribly Destroyed Renditions

As we all know, photography is about capturing light. The more realistically we can capture it, the closer it is to what we saw and what inspired us to take a photograph in the first place.
Perfectly exposed negatives were difficult to obtain, but not impossible. During an exposure of several seconds, it could be achieved by dodging highlights while the image was being created. Further dodging or burning could be done to the print during its creation in the darkroom.

If you don't know what dodging and burning are, read no further.

With the advent of digital photography and sophisticated software, similar results can be done using a computer.
The recent spate of computer generated HDR images seen on various photo websites, range from the sublime to the ridiculous (IMHO)
The sublime image reflects all the detail in shadows, mid range and highlights, in essence, a perfect photograph, these are few and far between.
The ridiculous image presents a garish attempt at blending different exposures, these are abundant.
Like a new digital opium, HDR has become one of the most visually disturbing drugs. It assaults the optic nerves and creates a palette of hallucinatory colors, only meaningful to the groupies of the photographer and to the photographer.
There are those who seem to be unable to find their way back to what the core of photography. Providing us with a detailed descriptions such as:
"this is a three exposure HDR image, tweaked, twaddled and tone mapped, to give this exciting result"
Excuse me while I remove my finger from my throat and elevate it in your direction.
Come on people, most of what you're trying to do can be done "in camera" without multiple exposures. Why not learn to use the tool you just purchased and don't spend hours at your computer.
While HDR can be a useful addition to the array of post shooting software, it seems to be grossly overdone wherever it is displayed.