Ok, I'm gonna take one more swing at this then I'm out. First, my point about comparing neutering is that one leaves the dog as healthy and happy as ever with essentially no change to his behavior, the other changes the dogs physiology, leaves him prone to obesity (and the host of risks associated) and has a dramatic effect on his behavior. I'll let you guess which is which.
About the acceptance of debarking from Wikipedia:
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Multiple animal medicine and animal welfare organizations discourage the use of convenience devocalization, recommending that it only be used as a last resort. However, organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Animal Hospital Association and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, oppose laws that would make devocalization illegal.
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So even the humane societies want debarking as an option, they just don't want it to be a matter of convenience: "hey doc, while he's out for the neutering why don't we go ahead and dock his tail and ears and debark him, too." I think every one would agree that this should be a last resort.