Even by today’s deplorable standards, some of the venom being aimed at the Bermuda Tourism Authority seems entirely excessive given this is actually an innocuous body dedicated to boosting visitor numbers and not, say, the local arm of ISIS.

Yet its critics, politically motivated, opportunistic and intent on dividing and ruling by any means to hand, routinely paint the BTA as if it is a Trojan horse of darkest design cunningly slipped into our camp.

It is portrayed as a harbinger of imminent disaster rather than a vehicle for renewing Bermuda’s moribund hospitality sector.

Its CEO is routinely depicted as so very odious, cunning and cruel that he has no real-world counterpart — with the possible exception of Kim Jong Un — and has assumed the bigger-than-life dimensions of a James Bond villain in his detractors’ broadsides.

Of course, lost in all this is the BTA’s mission to reinvigorate, reposition and rebrand Bermuda in an increasingly crowded and competitive global tourism market.

The recently created body responsible for stewarding the hospitality sector into the 21st century is certainly not above reproach. Far from it.

But most of the calumny and bile being thrown its way owes less to the BTA’s approach to marketing and positioning the Island internationally than it does to purely domestic political considerations.

The reality is the organisation has been reduced to just another pawn on the chessboard of parochial party politicking.

Genuine organisational or strategic missteps at the BTA (and there have been a few) go largely unaddressed by its critics. Its unquestionably vital mandate, resuscitating a sector of the economy many Bermudians and Bermuda businesses still depend on, goes entirely ignored.

Rather, the BTA is continuously shifted around the board as one party seeks to gain electoral advantage over its opponent with little or no concern for the long-term consequences of its sometimes reckless short-term propagandising.

Incessantly demonising the BTA, encouraging the spread of a political derangement syndrome which induces acute paranoia in otherwise sane people in reaction to the body’s very existence, may win a few votes at the next General Election. But it could well lose Bermuda the best opportunity it has had in a generation to rethink and relaunch its tourism product.

It’s true we live in an age of overkill, one in which the art of restraint has been all but lost. High-decibel, high-octane bombast is now as prevalent in politics as it is in all other areas of Bermuda life.

But those politicians and their proxies on both sides of the party divide who shout because they no longer seem capable of speaking need to be more aware of their special roles and responsibilities in this community.

They must strive to rise above partisan gamesmanship and cheap point-scoring when it comes to issues such as tourism and the economic recovery.

We all have a vested interest in the outcomes of initiatives taking place in these areas and the Island’s best interests must be placed ahead of political self-interest.

Bermuda needs strong, level-headed, positive, practical political parties. It needs bulwarks against the type of delusionional behaviour and unrestrained hubris which we are now witnessing on a daily basis at the Corporation of Hamilton.

The Island needs reasonable voices which can point out flaws in opponents’ policies but also tell voters that life is indeed complex and neither a One Bermuda Alliance nor a Progressive Labour Party Government can fix everything which ails us and our community.

There is certainly no shortage of intelligent, principled and forthright Bermudians who could provide a chorus of such voices, both in and out of the political arena. But they are frequently drowned out by the screams of those who find it more politically advantageous to rage against reality rather than engage it.

Let’s hope cooler, more rational heads do indeed carry the day when it comes to the BTA and that Mark Twain, who did so much to popularise Bermuda as a pioneering resort destination, was being unduly pessimistic when he remarked: “Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing the matter with this, except that it ain’t so.”