Think of it this way - many people with dSLRs shoot in RAW format. RAW is like a film negative - not useful for much of anything on it's own. It must be post-processed to create a usable digital image, much like a film negative needs to be printed on positive paper. In that printing process, there are choices of exposure, etc., to be made. Likewise, if you look at some of the Photoshop effects, like 'dodge' and 'burn' - where did those names come from? They were techniques used in darkroom negative printing to compensate for local exposure problems, etc.


When you shoot JPG, the camera is doing the conversion for you, just like taking your film to the drug store. Still, you are affecting the image by choosing a Picture Style (even 'Standard' performs sharpening and color adjustments).


Ultimately, it's about getting an image that you like. If that means a realistic, minimally-processed image to you, great. If that means a heavily saturated or grunge-tonemapped HDR image to you, that's great too!