Why are we so discombobulated by the truth, or at least the facts?
Of course, there is such a thing as context, a clarification of the circumstances in which events occur which may throw a completely different light on a particular issue. Still facts are facts, and it's only the disingenuous, the manipulative or the downright dishonest who will attempt to present them as anything else.
Like getting knocked out of the group phase of the Digicel Caribbean Cup Finals. Whether you want to go the gloom-and-doom way of describing it as yet another humiliating experience for our senior men's national football team, or accept the argument that this is all part of a very painful rebuilding process, it doesn't change the reality that Trinidad and Tobago, the most successful nation since the advent of the regional tournament 21 years ago and one of the favourites before the kick-off in Martinique last month, were effectively eliminated after losses in their opening two games to Cuba and Grenada.
At this point, objectivity evaporates as swiftly as decorum in Parliament, with positions on the issue interpreted as liking or disliking a key individual, whether it be head coach Russell Latapy or Football Federation special adviser Jack Warner.
And it is this instant personalisation of the issue that eliminates any prospect of a rational dialogue. It used to be more than a little amusing, but of late it's become actually quite depressing, when someone asks for an opinion on something or the other and then gets blue vex because the response wasn't what they wanted. So why pose the question relating to Latapy's tenure as head coach when, as far as you are concerned, the only answer is that we should never, ever, ever treat the former midfield maestro with such disrespect?
Never mind that his record at the helm is no better than that of his immediate predecessor, Francisco Maturana. Then again, I'm obviously blind to the fact that the previous head coach was a very unpopular Colombian who struggled because of the language barrier to get his message across to the fans or to the media. In stark contrast, Latapy is our beloved "Little Magician," the little boy who became a man on the football field before our admiring eyes for over two decades, a national icon so revered that even some members of a supposedly ultra-critical and vindictive media chose to discard their allegedly poisoned pens and rose to applaud their hero as he shuffled in for a session of fawning (it couldn't be called questioning) after Trinidad and Tobago went down 3-2 to Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier in his first game in charge at the Dwight Yorke Stadium 17 months ago.
Such inconsistencies are par for the course with us, especially when it is perceived that some traitor is daring to tarnish the glossy sheen that coats our sporting heroes.
When the West Indies were losing from pillar to post under the captaincy of Brian Lara, it represented the failings of everyone associated with the regional cricket team except, quite obviously, the "Prince of Port of Spain." Strident cries of "Conspiracy!" often erupted from all corners of this fair and usually indifferent land in valiant defence of the champion from Cantaro, that eruption reaching Krakatoan proportions when Marlon Samuels stood his ground and left the legend to be run out in his final innings in West Indies colours at the 2007 World Cup.
Conversely, when the West Indies were losing from pillar to post under the captaincy of Chris Gayle, it was Gayle's fault. End of story. All of the forces and factors that were previously conspiring against Lara were now miraculously working in wonderful unison for the good of West Indies cricket, and we would have certainly soared back to the top but for that wotless nowherian at the helm.
Indeed, the only reason Gayle is not being pilloried in these parts as a money-grubbing mercenary for not signing the West Indies Cricket Board's retainer contract is that two Trinis have also chosen not to do so. In time I suppose we will find a way to castigate the Jamaican and leave our red-white-and-black brethren untouched on their pedestals over the very same course of action.
Oh yes, it looks like chairman of national selectors Dudnath Ramkeessoon has found a way to elevate Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard even higher, being quoted in the "Express" on Saturday as saying that the pair remain "totally committed" to Trinidad and Tobago's cricket even as he was acknowledging that they will be sorely missed for next month's Caribbean T20 campaign.
No argument with their right to prioritise the more lucrative Australian "Big Bash" that coincides with the regional event, but has the meaning of the word "totally" been changed in the dictionary?
Oh, now I get it. The only real truth...is that the facts don't matter any more.