WHAT assessment of the guy’s tone and demeanor? There’s nothing in the first post that actually addresses any part of the guy’s demeanor or non-verbal signs of hostility, and the OP has yet to articulate clearly why he thought the man posed an imminent threat. There are vague references to “that demeanor”–okay, what demeanor? What specific verbal or non-verbal signs is the OP relying upon?
Yes, it’s a subjective judgment. However, unless it is a REASONABLE judgment, the case is not self-defense but murder. Without even knowing what signs the OP was reading, why should we assume his reading was accurate or reasonable?
What specifically in that first post (“A random guy walks up to me with a 2 by 4 in his hands and asks me what I’m doing”) conveys hostility as opposed to curiosity or some other emotion? What in this sentence, or any other sentence of the OP, demonstrates that the approach was pointed and aggressive?
If the story is that the guy came out of a house 200 yards away and immediately started shouting at split p&j very loudly while running towards him swinging a four-foot length of 2x4, those are relevant details that would change my opinion. Those are details not present in the OP, and I’m not willing to read them into the account unless split p&j tells me that’s what happened.