As disturbing as his 'roadmap' is, I observe few people who live their life as an expression
of their 'philosophy'. I credit those that do

I can agree with that to the extent that one's philosophy and the way they express it is not harmful to others. I have no intention of going to Pattaya and bringing my soap box along. But I can express my belief right here in this forum that I do consider racism, bigotry, hate rhetoric, misogyny, sexism and the like to be harmful to others. I have seen, on more than one continent what it has done, I have known personally its victims, and so I will rail against it - sometimes logically, sometimes not so much.

But sure, give credit where credit is due. And, yes, as disturbing as his road map is, he does do his own thing in accordance with what he believes. He may even believe his own lies.

I don't believe in 'truth' as a verifiable quality in human beliefs or as a prescriptive
yardstick for behavior.

Hmm. Sorry, it's taken me awhile to wrap my brain around that one. Usually I can grasp your irony and satire right off but, since you're being serious, this requires thought. Anyway, I agree with the first part but not the latter. I believe, and try to live my life in accordance with the belief that truth is a prescriptive yardstick for behavior, as you say. I'll admit, it's hard and of course I fail, but I try. Nevertheless, in my opinion, without at least an attempt at honest and forthright behavior, we are nothing.

But here we are talking about different kinds of truth, well, at least I am. I keep bouncing back and forth because my whole original thing was about lying and I'm trying to keep it simple, yet I'm fascinated by the complexity of it all. And I will admit to the realization that there are few who possess a belief system who can truly manifest in their behavior the "truth" of said belief system.

Well, personally, I can be thankful to have overcome the "existential angst" well enough that my observational skills and curiosity are still intact. Perhaps, SB, has it right, since we're all just marking time anyway..

Now, I understand that my position on the hypocrisy and ignorance that is seemingly innate
among U.S. citizens is a debatable belief system of my own.

I wouldn't debate it for a minute. Fortunately, when not traveling, I live on an island. I can isolate myself as much as necessary when I need a buffer. If I'm on the mainland, I sometimes feel as though I'm a stranger in a world of puppets. Now that Nationalism is in the cauldron, we'll see how the American mind reacts. But based on the very hypocrisy and ignorance you speak of, I'm not overly optimistic.

(So anyway, I still think you were having an up day on the day you wrote the post I responded to. Hope you have many more.}