Category Archives: The Humonculous

Notes of the Inner-Self:
Blog-Posts of everything from reviews and opinions to observations and stream of consciousness.

The Humonculous

I’m sick of sex in Paganism

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Let me shed some light into my spiritual life: I have never once danced naked under the full moon. I have never culminated a ritual with a sexual act. I haven’t endulged in nudist drum circles, or prayer rites. Sex is not the foundation of our religion. Why the fuck do modern pagans turn EVERYTHING into sex?

It has become blatantly obvious that I am, apparently, not the “typical” pagan. So, perhaps my opinion on the matter is not in good company, but I am sick of all the flaunting and glorifying of sex in Paganism, whoring around everywhere. And yes, I call it whoring, because that is exactly how it comes across. Extortion? Desperation? Using it for leverage? Everything you associate as being a negative aspect of sexuality – that is exactly what you are doing, and rationalizing it away as liberation, or becoming one with nature, or a oneness with self, or whatever else psycho BS you can pull out of your ass to try to make it seem like anything less than an orgy or the sake of religion.

Why does sex have to be such a big issue to “our kind”? It seems like so many aspects of Paganism these days is for shock value, or simply for the sake of being the anti-christian movement. Anti being opposite of, not opposed to in this context. Christians say sex is a sin, we’re here to tell you it’s a beauitful act of power and liberation! To Prove thats what it is, and we’re not ashamed, we’re all going to orgy it up right here in front of you!

I read a lot. I follow a lot of blogs. Though, ironically, I can’t seem to name you one single “pagan” author, save for the horrendous, like Silver Ravenwolf (one of my many damning qualities, according to my oh-so-welcoming community, I’m a “bad pagan” because I can’t appropriately name-drop MVPs….) But amongst all the snippets I collect and read through week to week, one thing blares blindingly clear. Without fail, every time some spiritual ritual is mentioned, sex and sexuality is a headlining topic.

The beautiful thing about nature-based religions, and all the many fascets of Pagan paths is the understanding of sexuality. Sex is natural, it is a regular part of life, and therefore should not be demonized in the slightest bit. But being a part of life doesn’t me ruling life. It does not need to be included in everything.

Do you have sex while doing the laundry? Are you masturbating while preparing breakfast? Do you jackoff your man / fist your lady while watching family feued? Does your gamertag include your O face? If yes, any sane individual anywhere would tell you you have a problem.
The reality is, NO. We don’t function like that. Sex is not a part of everything we do in life, so why on earth does it make sense to be a part of every aspect of our spiritual selves? Everything does not have to be a discussion on sex. Stop it.

I just read Sex and the Parliament of World Religions and it is a prime example. It both confuses and infuriates me.

“One commonality that stood out to me was our relationship to sex. While there were other faiths that honor sexuality as sacred, nowhere was it as explicit as in the Pagan community.”

Nowhere was it as explicit as in the Pagan community….
How does that line make you feel? Why is this something to be proud of? It makes me sad, and ashamed. We are the trashed party-girl of the Religious community. And we have somehow convinced ourselves, like every other party girl in history, that that is a good thing. It’s not. People only like us because we’re easy. We need to wake up and realize that.

And as I continued through this shameful article, and coming to the grand conclusion, I didn’t understand…What does sex have to do with ANY of this? It was completely unnecessary to her experience with the conference or community. Why must being happy in your own body have to be about sex? Why does a closeness with someone else have to equal to sex or sexuality? Why do you admit that most contact was not sexual in nature, but then forcibly bring the conversation straight back to sex? Why does ANY of this have to be about sex, why must we be EXPLICIT in our community instead of giving our bodies, the act itself, the way we view and represent ourselve, and even our ceremonies the respect and honour they deserve?

People get the wrong idea that in order to be ok with yourself or your sexuality that you must overtly flaunt it, that if you cover it up, then you must either be ashamed or oppressed -that that is just the radical extreme of the opposite end of the spectrum. Being respectful to your body, and your faith, does not mean defaming it, and not thinking about what you do or how you use it and just throw it blindly at anyone, or use it for any little opportunity is not respectful.

My next question is: Are you all that vapid and shallow?
Do you think you are being deep and moving by takling about sex all the time? What are you trying to accomplish? Do you think being a “feminist” means shoving your tits and pussy at everyone and making them deal with it? That’s not how it works. You are trying too hard. You are desperate.
A psychologist would tell you that folk who are this engulfed and vocal about sex have some severe insecurities, or trauma they are trying to work through – those who scream the loudest have the most to hide. Which is fine, if that is the case, but we are not your therapy.  There are real and true traditions, we are real people, will real faith, and real customs and spirituality and things that were once sacred that are being desecrated in falsehoods and misrepresentations. Being proud doesn’t have to mean making a mockery of us. And if you think sex is all there is to paganism, or even one of the biggest points of paganism, you’ve entirely missed the point.

 

The Humonculous

Welcoming the Equinox…

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Traditionally, the Druidic paths did not celebrate the 8 points of what is now recognized as the Wheel of the Year. They only celebrated the four main harvests that quartered the year – Though that does not mean that the Equinox was not a respected time for them.

Most modern paths have all accepted the 8-festival format, acknowledging the importance of these other cross-quarter markers, and to impose a since of balance and uniformity across practices, as well as our other pagan bretheren and cousins.

Though something about the 8-festival tradition just doesn’t speak to me (I stick to the quarter-harvests)….I cannot deny the charge I feel in the air on these days.

This is my *favorite* time of year, and this is *the day* it all culminates into alignement to shephard in the fall harvests and the closings of the year. Something about this time of year is just absolutely magical, and it fills me.

The Druidic path calls it Meán Fórmhair. Fómhar – meaning harvest. Giving, and fruitfullness, fullness, abundance, life, hope, plenty. This is what the crisp autumn air says to me. It sings to me to eat, drink and be merry. Celebrate the fullness of the earth, the fullness of life. I always found Thanksgiving very appropriate, though it claims no ties to pagans – the harvest is transcendent, in that sense: everyone can relate to the thankfulness and humility for the abundance of food from the land.

The pilgrims established Thanksgiving in order to give thanks to God, as they felt he had hear their prayers and blessed their crops. Likewise, we give thanks to the Mother and Father for the fertility and bounty of the land. Should it be so surprising we share so many similarities? None of us are so different – around the world (or at least the Northern Hemisphere) all people are celebrating and anticipating their crop and harvest and the gift of the land in some form or another, even if they do not realize it.

You do not have to have a national holiday, or adhere to a set of sabbats and rituals, to understand the power and beauty of this time of year.

The Humonculous

My Issue with the Planned Parenthood madness…

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I would like to start out by saying a great big giant fuck off to Gianna Jessen. I hate to crush your dreams, but surviving abortion – due to absolutely no will, effort, skill or accomplishment of self – does not make you a hero. And the fact that you spent the majority of your life trying to demonize other women and their life choices, and to actively seek to deprive others of their own liberties and personal rights just kind of makes you a cunt, and just a horrible person.

Here’s my issue with the Pro-Lifers self righteous rampages: They make it out that the greater issue is the death of morality in America – as if *their* beliefs are law, and that morality can never be and is never a subjective thing, and that making the decision to take a life is, inarguably, wrong – no exceptions, no exclusion. Yet, self-defense is still viable. And soldiers, well, they’re not murderers at all. And Capital punishment is still on the books. And euthanasia is humane in necessity. They want to argue that Pro-Choicers and legislation and Politics are flippant and hypocritical in how they pick-and-choose when a life is a life or a baby is a baby or a fetus or a fetus – but what is the difference with picking choosing when murder is murder? There is none. Whatever works for your argument, right?

right.

You are entitled to whatever you want to believe – you do not have to advocate abortions, you can be pro-life to your little heart’s content….but when you try to forcefully impose your beliefs, not only onto others (which is bad enough) but try to force them into law? No. I’m sorry, you don’t get to *take away* the rights from one to give to another – that is not how that works.

And before you berrate me with your hateslander of “but you’re taking away the rights from the BABY!”  NO – no. I’m not, because last time I checked, a person is guaranteed rights upon *birth*. Lets quote the constitution, shall we? How about the line most notably thrown around side-to-side in this political debate.

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”

All persons born or naturalized. Well, that whole in-utero thing kind complicates that, doesn’t it? So no, technically, they are guaranteed nothing, as they are currently *not* born and *not* naturalized.

Secondly, for those who like to scream that they *are* born due to partial-birth procedures, and others who may want to claim the citizenship through parentship clause, then I would like to point out that they would still be minors – and minors are not guaranteed full legal rights or recognition, and that those rights are defaulted to their parents.  Now, that is a petty cold argument, I’ll give you that, but it is still valid – especially when you take into account rights and responsibilities via proxy – most notably medical proxy, where a parent can choose to remove life support of their child.

As fa as the morality of America, I would like to remind everyone – as ignored and overlooked as it is – there is a such thing a separation of church and state. Morality is often an issue of faith, and personal beliefs. Something the Government is not allowed to bias and elevate one over another, and thusly advocating a “state faith” or belief. This would also assume that the so called death of morality would mean that there, at some point, was a peak of morality, meaning this downturn would be relatively recent – and this continuation in political correctness to allow abotions the obvious biproduct of such immorality must, therefore, also be relatively new.

Strangely, I have in my posession a lovely little thing calle the Trotula. It is a manuscript aptly described as The Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine. So impressive it is that it is taught in Women’s Studies courses in colleges all over the wold – as well as in historic studies, and even literary studies – just as I have referrenced it endless times for research for my writing.

In this medieval compendium, it details on what to do if one does not wish to conceive, and the matters in which would cause an evacuation of the womb, and also the removal of a dead fetus.This *medieval* text describes birth control, enduced miscarriage, and abortion. In fact, there are historic records of abortions noted through out ancient history as far back as the 8th century, and the Greeks were so salaciously pro-choice (and pro-sex) that Plato even detailed the abortion duties of midwives, and they harvested a strain of Saffron into extinction for its contraceptive properties, and even used as an ancient Plan-B pill!

But yes, this must be an issue of Ameicans lack of morality. Not simply an instinctive human right that has been recognized, and employed since humans realized hey! sex is good

Another problem with the forced pro-life lobbying is the concensus of when *life* actually begins, or what constitues life. Does it begin upong conception? Is it the physical act of living, breathing, viability outside the womb?  Conciousness and self awareness, the presence of a soul? How would one grade a soul – and if a soul is transcendant, then how would you measure thei presence, beginning or ending? These questions are being argued by psychological, scientific and secular authorities alike. You cannot enforce legislation on something that cannot even be conclusively decided on its existance.

The Issue with defunding Planned Parenthood is the fact there is no basis under the FQHC to defund it, and in order to ethically do so, you would have to rewrite special ammendments within the qualifications or statutes that stipulate circumstance for defunding or disqualifying sites within the greater program – which cuold potentially lead to hundreds of sites being closed under new regulation, leaving the community as a whole hurting – and not just for women.

What has Planned Parenthood done that is so offensive (on a political standing)? If you have a problem with the use of fetal tissue for medical research and advancement – then you should also be against transplants and organ donors. They are no different. There’s really no other way to argue that point because they, literally, are the same thing, the only difference is the context of a “fetus” making people uncomfortable – that’s it. If the tissue, organs or stem cells from a fetus can save anothers life, pave the way for medical advancements in life changing, dibilitating or terminal illnesses, please explain to me the immorality in that? Its the cycle of life, and if you are more spiritual or practical, its reassuring these children did not die in vain. God makes everything happen for a reason, right? Then perhaps you need to consider the fact hat maybe their “reason” for existing – was to be able to help someone else live. God works in mysterious ways, afterall. And he’s big on sacrifice, too, if you remember accurately. But you are stifling the chance for that little body to do good in the world, to reach beyond themselves and change another life. You are telling terminall ill people all over the world who are waiting for new medicines, and hope and a cure that you’re own self righteousness and pride means more than their well being.

This is one situation, where regardless of what side you are one – there is the potential to spread life out of death; to breed hope out of the hopeless – breed good from the bad.

And you are telling people that is wrong?

The Humonculous

I’ve written myself into a corner…..

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…and it feels like I’m beating my brains out to get out of it. 

While going through my revisions, and working on re-writes and edits….I made a horrible realization.

I’ve totally jacked up all my timelines. The are generally related to each other in a sense of chronological order. But the reality is – they are not cohesive, or consistent. wtf. How did I do this?

How did I not notice this until just now?  The bigger problem is that this particular set-up needs to happen in this way. It sets up so much more to come, in a drastic – even if subtle – way. If I change this particular scene, or act to fit what has already been written, it fucks up everything else to come. It simply will not work. Or, in order to get it to work, seriously alters the plot line as it currently stands. Which I’m not exactly apt to changing at this point. Yes, sometimes it is necessary to take a turn you did not initially plan for, but this isn’t one of those times without changing the impact of the story as a whole, and basically puts me in a stalemate with myself or my story telling. Which means there is only one option :  go back and fix all the previous written time-line.

…all that work I just finished.

*FACEDESK*

One step forward….ten steps back ? uhg. 

SOME PROGRESS IS BETTER THAN NO PROGRESS

I just have to keep telling myself that.

The Humonculous

It’s Beltane…and it’s not what you think.

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The obligatory Beltane / May-Day post.

Well wishes, happy harvests, and bountiful blessings for everyone this season – as it should be (or hoped to be) every season.

But, I can’t say that it is a warmly welcomed season so far. Every holiday / harvest day / celebration that comes around – I am bombarded with article after article and post after post from pagan communities, blogs and centers from all over blaring out, and sharing, and reposting on histories and traditions…….that just aren’t true. Or misconstrued, greatly.  And it’s disheartening. 

Now, if you are a Neo-Pagan, and you follow these modernized traditions – then you go for it.  BUT, when we are discussing histories and traditional ideology of where the celebration is rooted – that’s a much different discussion than simply talking about personal practices or customs. 

I’m sure you’ve all heard all the discussion of the sexual prowess of Beltane, and the Great Rite, and the copulation of the God and Goddess and the marrying of the Land and great orgies by bonfires for the sake of fertility.

And frankly, in my own opinion – that is all blasphemy. And insulting.

Beltane is a harvest festival. That is all. It is the celebration of the bounty of Spring, and welcomes Summer. Traditionally, it marked the “beginning of summer” and was a time that they would reap harvest, turn fields, begin the breeding season of certain livestock, and send the cattle out to pasture, and hope / pray for the fertility and ripeness of the land. 

As a celebration of summer, and the over-turning of the seasons, it was thought to be one of the pinnacle points of the year when the spirits were most active, and the veils between worlds was the thinnest – allowing the influence of the gods / spirits to be at a peak. They would make offerings to the gods for their blessings for the upcoming season, and they would perform special rites to purify and protect their livestock, land, and even the people themselves. 

It’s basis was centered around a sense of renewal, blessings, optimism and hope. Not a sex fest as modernism seems to have turned it into.  And yes, arguably – you can say that the idea of the rebirth of the land, and it’s heavy focus on fertility *could* be interpreted in a sexual and symbolic manner. Yes. That could be argued – but that interpretation and ideology has developed over the modern era, and was not *traditionally* what Beltane was about at all. 

Beltane is rooted in Celtic Ireland, and can be read about in some of the oldest, most influential Irish mythos – and has been well documented throughout the medieval era all over Celtic Europe.

We, of course, don’t know everything, in every detail about the very first traditions and customs of those first Beltane rites – but the fact that they had survived for so many centuries, and had been documented by many different cultures throughout the region leads us to a pretty clear picture of what exactly this Season, and celebration, meant to them. And to imply otherwise, or to perpetuate wrong-information as fact – or to state that modern interpretations and rituals as “traditional” is ignorant, and doing a disservice to the culture – regardless of if you try to walk a traditional path, or modern one. 

There is a reason why we are often looked at in society today as being little more than a bunch of free-lovin-hippy-cult-revival of over-sexualized debauchery – or why certain circumstances of criminal acts seem to be so scrutinized, and impactful to our community – because the community continues to influence the idea that our culture, and history, is rooted in nothing more than a prominent sexual overtone. Which is a very shallow, cut-and-dry image to paint to a culture that has so many depths and histories within it. 

We are much more than a Sex-cult. So on these days, lets try to share some of the proud, deep rooted histories of our people and customs so that others may see a different, and hopefully insightful, side to the people we really are. 

The Humonculous

A disappointing read

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Gods & Fighting Men – Lady Gregory

though I have read most of the tales dozens of times over, I had always wanted to read this collection. I was excited to start, but after weeks of scattered reading I finally had to give it up. This is such a disorganized rendering of these tales I just couldn’t follow it – and that’s saying a lot for someone who *already knows these tales*. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was reading it via ereader – as i’ve found it is much, much harder for me to follow, and retain via an ereader than an actual book, or if it was a combination of that and the language. I just found this so scattered and incohesive, with over exaggerated language, usage and run on sentences that cover half a dozen topics / people/ places all in one thought process that span entire paragraphs and excerpts. This is just plain bad writing. There are hundreds upon hundreds of stories or anthologies written in this same era, and earlier, that retain their original language paired with romanticized lyricism that are beautiful and amazing works of visionary word. I feel like this is what she was trying to capture, but did not fully understand it – and therefor left the collection empty, hard to navigate, and just plainly confusing and hard to read. Perhaps one day I will pick up a hard copy of this book, and try again with a physical copy in hand. Perhaps that will make all the difference in the world…but until then, absolutely no. I cannot finish this. It is not worth the time nor the headache, especially when there are so many other wonderful presentation of these tales.

Read this review in Goodreads

The Humonculous

Rape of Thrones….not so much.

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Rape of Thrones….not so much.

Sunday night’s episode of Game Of Thrones took an even darker turn than usual: Jaime Lannister, who has transitioned from one of the story’s villains to one of its heroes, takes the opportunity of his son’s death to rape his sister and lover, Cersei—in the Westerosi equivalent of a church, while Jof

Today’s musings is based around this latest fire-storm of idiot controversy.    There have been a million and one articles about this since…well….as soon as it aired, and many of them take slightly different takes on what happened. 

But this in article in particular is going to by my subject for this debate.

“Why are the game of thrones showrunners rewriting the books into misogyny?”

That line, right there, tells me everything that is wrong with this article. And in a time span that seems to be overburdened with in-your-face womens’ activism, it’s really tiring to see the stretch people try to make just to be offended. 

If you are unfamiliar, or just don’t care to take the time to read the article, they are discussing an incident that happened in this past Sunday night’s episode, “Breaking Chains”, of Game of Thrones.  And this author, in particular, uses a basis of the book-to-show comparison to argue her debate of rape. 

My issues with this article, is I’m not entirely so sure that this writer actually saw the show….Or is, perhaps, just incredibly bad at reading people.  or perhaps just stretching some interpretations for the sake of argument and offense. 

I watched the show. In my opinion, as far as the GoT franchise has gone – this was quite a boring episode that was simply an obligatory necessity to get from one plot point to another. Nothing happened. Nothing. So I guess this was the biggest “shock” of the show, and if you have to write about something, this scene must be the one to write about. 

A slam at the showrunners, though, for turning the story into misogyny is pushing the bar a bit far, and unfairly. Nobody needs to turn the story misogynistic – it does that all on it’s own. It’s a part of the greater world that Martin has built in these books. It can be a dark, cold, uncaring world, and the struggle and turmoil to survive and stay on top for both women – and men. So the idea that writers / producers are intentionally trying to turn a gender bias is, I’m sorry, just a load of crap in my book.  Let’s not fail to mention here that Martin is an *integral* part of the Show’s production, and has written several episodes screenplays himself. And further interpretations, reinterpretations or so on, in the end, has his sign of approval to be done to his work. Maybe not as nitty gritty as signing off on ever line of script, or edit, or tweak – but on the grande scale of things, he has given allowance for such edits and changes. And while it is his story, frankly, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it. Regardless of it’s true to his books or not.  Stories change, all the time, and characters grow and evolve just like real live people in the flesh. It’s the organic nature of being a story teller, and seeing his works and his characters come to life on set / screen may have given him a new take on their personalities, or hearing feedback from a new broader fanbase, and the team working on the show, may have also opened his eyes to new takes he hadn’t previously thought of. 

So frankly, get over the changes. To put it blunt, and stop trying to blame people for turning the characters one way or another. If you have an issue with an element of the story or plot, then if anyone, point the fingers at Martin – because he has laid all the groundwork for interpretation here.  Everyone is going to see things in a different light, based upon their own personal experiences, but you can’t see what hasn’t been given to you, and there’s one person who gave you that frame work to interpret : Martin. Not the showrunners. They are just interpreting it in their way – just as every single reader interpreted in *their* own way as well. 

Now let’s move on to the actual rape itself.

There wasn’t any.

Did *you* watch the show?? Did I just miss something entirely?? Because, yes, I’ll give it to the writer of this article that it was a much darker, more volatile and emotional scene than in the books…..but. If I can be entirely frank here – the scene in the book was porn. That’s it. It was porn, and it was as flat and cheesy and horribly scripted as any corny porn movie.  I am sorry to those Martin worshippers out there that I’m sure I just made faint at the blasphemy of such words to be spoken, but it’s the honest truth. I enjoy the story, but I do not think Martin is all that his die-hards make him out to be. And even if he were a God to the written word….he is in fact, only human, and therefore not going to be perfect. NO ONE can be 100%, 100% of the time. Nobody. There will be times his writing is awesome….and there will be times where he writes cheesey porn. Just sayin….

SO, yes. It was a different take on the book. It was not as straight-forward raunchy inappropriateness. But, again, did you watch the episode?  She did protest – as she *also* did in the book scene – She protested with much more emotion in the episode, but at the same time, the show portrayed the entire scene in a much more believable way. Emotions were high, and conflicting, and confusing. Imagine yourself in Cersei’s shoes. Wouldn’t you be a bit screwed up in the head too? Not taking into account that she has to be screwed up in the head to be as cold, murderous, and incestual – just ignore all that for just a moment, and look at just the scene. Her son is dead. He had *just* died, and had been murdered cruelly. She knew he was horrible, but it’s also her baby. So there must be conflicting emotions there, a sense of relief, but also of hate and anger and rage and sorrow that her child has been taken away from her, guilt and anger at herself for feeling relief. She looks for comfort in the man that she loves, but is still at the same time this his happening when her anger and bitterness towards him was high. So now she wants to love the man she loves, but is also hurt and abandoned. And that’s just looking at what is going on *right now* not everything else that has happened to this woman throughout the entire story up to this point. SO YES. I think any person under those circumstances is entitled to some contradicting statements / actions. That is far more real, and relatable, and believable as a story than how it was portrayed in the book. 

As far the act of rape itself – Yes, she protests…..and then proceeds to help him out of his pants.  She says no, no, not like this, and begins sobbing….and then pulls him in to kiss him. She is actively protesting (by words) but then telling him she wants it (through actions)  …..just. exactly. as. in. the. book.  Just much more emotionally charged than the book. WHICH IS WARRANTED.

Am I the only one who saw this ? Was everyone else just skimming between gapped fingers? Or did they simply choose to ignore those moments? 

And getting onto the Dany / Drogo dilemma. Again, I find the interpretation much more true-to-life (as much as it can be, being a fantasy world) and much more believable. I do not think a 13 / 14 girl being sold off for the sake of her far more abusive, controlling brother’s benefit would have acted the way portrayed in the book. At all. I find a terrified child, overwhelmed with everything that’s going on around her that she has no control over, breaking down, and crying, and acting as a scared 14 year olde girl would is far more believable, and relatable. ALSO – it was also not rape. It was not necessarily what she wanted, but it was also not necessarily what she did not want. She was a scared child, with no control over her own life. She not once ever said no, or stop – she knew what was happening, she knew what the deal was, she knew she was being married off, she knew it would have to be consumated. And she went along with it. Do you think porn stars or prostitues always want to have sex? I’m sure they don’t – but they do it anyway because, whatever their reasoning is.  Are there times when I am *really* not in the mood to have sex, but still do it anyway because I take my husband into consideration instead of thinking only about myself? Absolutely. Is any of this rape?? Fuck no.  Wanting it is not the same as consent. Consent is not synonymous with want. She may have been scared. She may not have wanted it – but she agreed to it.  That’s the catch. She did not object.  And PS – the scene where he asked “no?” is in the TV show.  It just continues on longer he asks “No?” then states is as “No.”  then shakes his head “No.” then looks at her, wipes a tear from her eye, and says “No.”  This was not written as him taunting her, this was written as in him saying don’t be scared, do not cry. But, when you are trying to portray a wedding of a child to a full grown man, who have completely polar opposite of culture, and speak not a lick of each other’s language – this is a very true to form way to portray it on television. …..not quite the cold-hearted rapist they want you to believe the show is portraying. 

And when you look at the comparison, it is really not *that* far off from the books as well. It’s all in the matter of interpretation, and I’m sorry to get all the Martin-lover knickers in a twitch. but I prefer the way they portrayed it in the show, because of that realism they brought to it. 

So, in the end to each their own; we are all going to see something different in both book, and show –  but don’t slaughter someone’s reputation over your own personal distastes when you might not have considered the story from all angles. That’s all I’m really getting at here.