No, I thought you pinpointed them as acceptable ways to portray brutality in a world like GOT

Out of interest, do you think people who enjoy slasher/gore-horror shows/films are sadistic? Or that people who write them are?

Like a webcomic I once read is Crossed. Have you heard of it? It's incredibly violent and could never be a TV show. It's about a zombie-type virus that makes people into psychopathic, deranged killers. The sign of infection of a rash in the shape of a cross on their faces (although its also very quick, like in 28 days later).