This is probably a good time to give thanks that we don’t live in Westeros, the setting of the HBO fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” It’s a dirty, medieval, fictional world where the leaders are thin-skinned and the First Amendment hasn’t been imagined. In the season one finale, a bard makes up a song that pokes fun at the king, and gets his tongue chopped off for his efforts.

In our world, HBO puts George W. Bush’s head on a stick, and all it has to do is issue a solemn apology.