Why people criticising Kamala Harris after becoming vice President of USA

I “read” she put many many ppl in jail for marijuana. I don’t smoke or eat it but I’d like to. I have cancer & it’s supposed to help. As I am taking pain medication I am drug tested (to see if I’m really taking it? Idk.) When I took nitequal (spell?) the night before you would have thought I drank a bottle of whiskey at one sitting from the way PA looked at me. I hope this is sarcasm. Because other than that it was what the racist Male white American told himself to make himself vote for obama. In essence he was voting for Joe Biden in 2008. But in 2016 obama wiped the floor with Romney at the polls because he proved himself not as inexperienced as that voter had assumed him to be. Ironically, now that Biden is standing for presidency, people aren't all that thrilled about him, particularly his age (they called him elder statesman when he was with obama in 2008, they call him senile old man now that he is on his own) and it was left with Obama to stamp for him to get more people to vote for him. Go figure. Mike Pence is by no means part of a monolith. The differences you lay out between the Democratic primary candidates in 2020 were mirrored by the Republican primary candidates in 2016. (I think one reason why Trump gained support in those primaries is that he openly disregarded the spending restraint promoted by Grover Norquist, something no other candidate was willing to do.)

Even the American Christian community has its differences. The most-viewed answer to this question is written by Matthew Bates, who is politically conservative but also Catholic. There are considerable differences of opinion between the evangelicals of Mike Pence‘s ilk and the Catholics in Mr. Bates’s bishopric. Some differences go back half a millennium, to the days of Martin Luther (whose 99 debate points just turned 500, I think).

But SJW, just like Christian conservative, is a label created by a movement’s enemies. Even the word, “Christian,” is a label coined by Romans who disliked the faith! It’s not uncommon for a movement to be more effectively labeled by its enemies, particularly if that movement wants to style itself as an evolution of something older and downplay the degree to which it’s new.

Using Christianity as an example, it was originally a sect of Judaism that believed its Messiah had come, and was both engaged in spreading that good news to both the Jewish people who were waiting for the Messiah and, thanks to God’s grace, even Gentiles who had never been raised in the Torah.

Dividing the ekklesia into “Jews” and “Christians” is what caught on, though. Eventually it was internalized, and prominent figures like John Chrysostom would eventually sermonize on how “Christians” shouldn’t celebrate a “Jewish” festival like Passover, even though that’s precisely the festival Jesus was commemorating at his Last Supper!

But such is the reality of mass communication. I’ve heard Mike Pence described as a Dominionist, for example. Aside from how his conduct after the Capitol riots appears to refute that claim, that seems to me to be a product of confusing Mike Pence with Ted Cruz or his father Rafael. The church Mike Pence’s family attends is part of a Radical Pietist church association - meaning they don’t even claim the authority to tell fellow churches in that association what to do!

Such things provide layers, or sediments, however. There are always conversations that will happen at greater and lesser levels of specificity and generality. Both have their merits. Some are useful diversions for people who would otherwise mess up the real work.

Maybe we’re in one of those diversionary conversations. I hope not.

Seriously & it’s ridiculous. Weed is still illegal where I live. I can’t even try the oil. If I were to try it to see if it helps more than their synthetic pills it would show up in a drug test & they would stop giving me pain relief.

So thanks to all you ppl who have flipped out about hydrocodone. They treat me & every other person who needs it like a junkie & no way to try anything else. With Biden saying it’s “a gateway drug” which went out in the 70’s I’ll be dead before I’ll get relief. Also read she Wanted to put parents whose kids skipped school in jail. I was a wild teenager. There wasn’t much my parents could do with me. They would have stayed in jail. That would have REALLY helped. Sarcasm. I’ll give her a chance but from her track record I don’t expect anything.

Oh! If I’m not mistaken she admitted to smoking pot. Bet she nor her parents went to jail. Yeah I’m grumpy & bitter & I hurt.

I generally agree, but the difference is that “conservative Christian” is an actual identity in reality that they themselves embrace. There are people that will wear T-shirts that say “I am a conservative Christian. “SJW” is an internet meme pejorative term that doesn’t actually have a constituency. There is no “SJW” church, no interest group that calls themselves SJWs, etc… There is a slate of issues that those opposed to them negatively label “SJW,” which the actual people may or may not identify with. They would probably call themselves civil rights advocates or whatever. Not sarcasm, precisely, but you’ve hit on the point of this answer: there is the reality of what a public figure does and there is what is said about that public figure - and the image we have of that person is a mixture of both of those things.

Mike Pence is a lot more than a ventriloquist doll, and he isn’t Norman Bates because he calls his mother, “Mother.” Nor does his haircut mean that he’s going to ban the X-Men.

But the meme still has some truth to it.

It’s just not always so clear what truth that is. Is it a truth about Pence, a truth about why a comic book artist chose to draw that particular villain that particular way, or a truth about why we think those two pictures look similar?

We need to pay attention to our parameters and why they’re there. Because Obama, in 2008, was inexperienced. Donald Trump, in 2016, was inexperienced. In both cases they were really inexperienced when compared to their opponent. The USA has selected wildly different candidates in 2008 and 2016, but selected for inexperience in both cases. This year, they selected for experience. It’s worth thinking about why all of that might be so, in ways that don’t lead to one solitary answer.

So all you have done is betray your own prejudices.

It might help to look at her predecessor: Mike Pence.

Mike Pence is a conservative Christian politician.

I don’t just mean that he’s Christian or conservative, I mean that his political identity is Christian Conservatism. If Mike Pence answers a question, any question, he will consistently give the Christian conservative answer to that question. Whether this is all because of him or has something to do with the media filter around him doesn’t matter. For better or for worse, Mike Pence is that guy.

Kamala Harris is an SJW politician.

I don’t just mean that she’s a social justice warrior, I mean that her political identity is being SJW. If Kamala Harris answers a question, she will consistently give the SJW answer to that question. Whether this is all because of her or has something to do with the media filter around her doesn’t matter. For better or for worse, Kamala Harris is that lady.

Seeing Mike Pence and Kamala Harris in the VP debate last year was illuminating in that regard. Both said exactly what you’d expect them to say, in their respective political languages, pointing to their respective values. Neither of them is particularly crazy or fringe within their particular groups, and both have opposed the lunatic elements that give their tribes a bad name. This is where we get into prescriptivist vs. descriptivist approaches to language. I used “conservative Christian” to describe Mike Pence because it’s similarly inaccurate - there’s a lovely lady in this comment section who pointed out that she would describe herself as a conservative Christian and yet Pence does not represent her values. There are better and more specific phrases to use, like “evangelical” or “Protestant” or “Pietist” (accurate, but no-one cares) or “fundamentalist” (inaccurate, but no-one cares).

I used “SJW” to describe Kamala Harris for two reasons: firstly, the system of beliefs and ideas she embodies is more recent than the conservative evangelical Christianity embodied by Mike Pence, so the labels used to describe it are less well-established. Secondly, I used it because it’s the label given to the movement by its enemies. I think we should start emphasizing distinctions between “disliking” and “disagreeing”. I think half the people disagree with Harris (it IS politics, after all). I am not sure half the people dislike her.

I have plenty of friends with whom I disagree on issues. They are still my friends. You can disagree with people and still like them. If you can’t, you are part of the problem in this country. I also find if you talk with those with whom you disagree, you tend to find a few things. One - they have some good points and good reasons to feel the way they do. Two - you tend not to be as far apart as you thought you were. When we allow the overarching narratives about those from the other party, we tend to consider them as “evil” instead of simply having a different outlook.And people from both parties do this.

Just like “Christian conservative” for Mike Pence. And in both cases, even though we might disagree with the nature of the characterization we both knew exactly what I was talking about. Which is what language is supposed to do. Heck, even “Christian” was a label invented by its enemies. But I’ve yet to hear either one say something I didn’t expect to hear. The prevailing wisdom is that Vice Presidents shore up support with key groups in your base, while the President tries to appeal more broadly and nationally. That seems to be the case with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, as it once was with Donald Trump and Mike Pence (and the “inexperienced” Barack Obama with the elder statesman Joe Biden, once upon a time). IIfyou dislike conservative Christianity, you’re probably bound to dislike Mike Pence. If you dislike SJWs, then you will almost certainly dislike Kamala Harris.

Are they fakers to some degree? Only they know.