I've always felt a connection to Gary Coleman. I have been saddened over the past several years to see the troubles he went through. May he rest in peace.Like many children of the eighties, I learned the word bigot from the show that made Gary Coleman (and his character Arnold Jackson) a household name, Diff'rent Strokes. The show also reinforced my parents' teaching that racism is unacceptable. It taught me to love "even the purple people" as Arnold put it.
Come to think of it, Diff'rent Strokes taught me many truly important lessons. I learned about:
- Eating disorders - Arnold suspected, and turned out to be correct, that his sister Kimberly had an eating disorder. I had never heard of bulimia before this episode.
- Taking care of the environment - washing with acid rain turned Kimberly's hair green
- The ills of drugs - First lady Nancy Reagan even appeared on an episode to thank Arnold for his work against drugs
- CPR and the importance of telling the truth - Arnold's brother Willis lied about knowing CPR to get a job. When Arnold electrocuted himself, his life was jeopardized because of Willis' seemingly harmless lie.
- Bullies - they never showed The Gooch and I'm still a little scared of him
- Child molestation - Gordon Jump played many memorable characters--from WKRP's Art Carlson, to Maggie's dad Ed Malone on Growing Pains, to the Maytag Man in his later life--but none were as memorable to me as his portrayal of Mr. Horton, the child molesting bicycle salesman from the two episode special
I could talk about Diff'rent Strokes all day, but I'll just say this: I learned all of these lessons and gained all these memories from a truly funny 30 minute sitcom. Which leaves me with the question, what are prime time shows teaching children today?
