Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
It's the Puritan work ethic. You know what I mean? You take it back to like Puritans seeking religious persecution or fleeing religious persecution. That was their whole vibe. That if you didn't work hard, if you didn't struggle, if you didn't push, if you didn't sacrifice everything, then God was not going to bless you.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
And so much of that Puritan work ethic has guided our psyche as a country that like we don't value ourselves if we're not relentlessly tired and working and striving and, you know, hustling. And we also think that this spiritual connection, be it like evangelical Christianity or be it some sort of like, you know, foo-foo spirituality, like,
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
And I think people look to her as someone who was highly relatable, as someone also saw as highly aspirational as well.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
We want to be able to ground those ideas in something that feels divine because then it validates our work. And if they're not tethered together, then you lose meaning. You lose value.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
A poor man's Oprah at that. I don't think, and call me biased, I just don't think That we will find someone in our generation, maybe in another two generations, but in our generation that can do what Oprah has achieved in so many different spheres.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
If you look at her influence in the literary world, in the fashion world, in the political world, in the health and wellness world, in the spiritual world. Film, Broadway, all of it.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
By the time you get to the late 90s, and certainly the 2000s. I mean, Oprah is a kingmaker. Oprah is the person that you want interviewing you. She is a tastemaker. If she says she likes Ugg boots, that's the new latest greatest thing.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
He's on her show for 62 times, to be exact. And it catapults him, really, into creating his own show. That's on for over a dozen years.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
This is the thing about Dr. Oz. He has charisma. He is personal. He knows how to take something that seems very complicated and make it sound simple for your everyday audience. He knows what he's doing when he's in that room and he's sort of shaking hands and kissing babies and making things make sense for people who are struggling with some really intimate, personal, bodily issues.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
And I think that kind of charisma and endearment is what...
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
This makes so much sense because I don't think people also realize that she voted Republican.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
People didn't realize I'm people. I didn't realize that. She talks about this. She talks about this on her show. She talks about the idea that she sort of voted both ways, but it's really not till Obama comes on the scene that she's like- She's actively involving herself in politics. Yes. Right. In an explicit way. Yes. But she was very much, I would say, of a bootstrapper kind of ideology. So
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
She comes from Mississippi. She hails from poverty. She is the ultimate self-made woman story. That's a very Americana kind of story. Started from the bottom, now we're here. And so it makes a lot of sense to me that she would gravitate toward people who would push those same sort of ethics. I mean, listen, Donald Trump does the same kind of thing.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
It shouldn't surprise any of us that he's on her show. You could say she gave him a platform as well. It's so interesting. I mean, no, this is a lot to take in. This is a lot to take in. This is interesting. This is interesting. Coming up.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
So much of that Puritan work ethic has guided our psyche as a country that like we don't value ourselves if we're not relentlessly tired and working and striving and, you know, hustling.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
Oh, no question. I mean, I think part of it is, it feels very prosperity gospel. Like you can have the best of everything. You can be number one in everything. You can have wealth. You can have health. You can have the man. You can have the kids. You can have the home. You can have the style. You can have everything that you want.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
And that lifestyle feels extremely attractive, not just then, but even now. I mean, if you look at influencers now on TikTok, all of that stuff is very tantalizing.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
It is the perpetual sense of dissatisfaction that you are never good enough. You are never content. You are never, you know, sort of just supposed to rest that everything is about accumulation and I mean, even her Oprah's Favorite Things episodes was like, they grabbed it like, oh my gosh, I have to have this new panini maker. I have to have this. It's like, do you?
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
Never had a panini, but I know I need a panini maker.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
All of these... advance very individual solutions. They never take into account systemic racism or structural racism. They never take into account patriarchy or capitalism or all of these big, huge barriers that people are facing. Listen, I love a good vision board. I love a good manifestation.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
But like the idea that you can sort of conjure up wealth from poverty as though it's a matter of sheer will is, And not some sort of hard, arduous task of, you know, building and saving relentlessly for the rest of your life. It just doesn't add up.
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
Primarily, Oprah's audience has been... white middle and upper middle class women, many of whom we might call soccer moms, who are navigating marriage, children, who are suburbanites, as a Black woman who is dark-skinned, who is overweight, who is not married, who is childless, who is sort of your Jiminy Cricket on your shoulder, your conscious, the person who tells you
It's Been a Minute
The Oprah to "Make America Healthy Again" Pipeline
how to make good decisions, the person who's somewhat scolding you, but always lovingly and always giving you sort of that comfort and that hug is something that I think feels very comfortable to a lot of white audiences, even if they're not thinking of her in that way. Oh, that's so interesting.