@Why phil,
Existentialism is largely a pose. But so is every other sort of ideology, philosophy, mythology, etc. etc.
There's a good guy and his opponent. Sometimes his opponent is Evil. Sometimes its Absurdity / Nausea / Bad Faith. Sometimes its Ignorance, or Forgetfulness of Being.
Of course there's always Prejudice. Some like Ego as the Bad Guy.
His virtue might be Intellect or Kindness or Authenticity. Try to find a system without some heroic role. I don't know if it's possible.
I ask myself why a person puts a particular spin on the totality. I like to sniff out the motives behind key-words like absurdity, etc.
It's fun.
No offense. Smiles and handshakes. I could be completely wrong.