"Flat Daddy"

[Tracer]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/08/30/guard_families_cope_in_two_dimensions/

`Flat Daddy' cutouts ease longing
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff  |  August 30, 2006

Maine National Guard members in Iraq and Afghanistan are never far from the thoughts of their loved ones.

But now, thanks to a popular family-support program, they're even closer.
Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.

The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.

``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."


---------------

I don't know about you, but I find this bizarre and disturbing.

[Kutjara]

1. I share your discomfort.

I'm imagining a day when we're all 'disappeared' and all that's left are neighborhoods of cardboard cutouts, silent and docile. The perfect Repug nation.

[Solly Mack]

2. Wouldn't have helped me any but if it helps others...

The last thing I wanted when my husband deployed was something else to dust or haul around with me.

And that's what I see it as - not as a reminder....just something in the way.

to each his own...

[ananda]

3. That is SO sick..

Bizarre indeed.

[Sydnie]

Rag momma monkey, anyone?

A flat daddy is better than no daddy? Is that what they are trying to tell us?

Imagine the graduation pictures with the flat daddy, the birthday pictures, the prom date pictures ... these kids will need therapy for years.

"No, I carried daddy into the house the last time, it's your turn to carry him!" ARRGGHHHHH!

[okieinpain]

21. hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! n/t

[TechBear_Seattle]

24. I was thinking of those same experiments as I read the article

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Harlow

[spanone]

4. What the fuck? Does she sleep with him?

[babylonsister]

5. I'm speechless; put him on a couch and cover him with a blanket?

Bizarre indeed.

[HereSince1628]

6. Send THESE guys to Iraq, think of the savings in shipping!

We could put thousands of Flat Daddy soldiers in the space taken by just one duffle bag.

Moreover, all that expensive medical support can be replaced with duct tape. For those not wanting scars, 3M Invisible Scotch Tape can be used, but at their expense.

Now please insert some psycho-babble about how paper dolls replace separation anxiety.

[hippiechick]

7. How 'bout we buy 2600+ of them ...

... and line them up outside the White House along the fence?

[Atman]

10. George Soros, can you spare a dime?

What a BRILLIANT idea. Anyone have a few thousand bucks to print em up?

[valerief]

16. Excellent idea. n/t

[annabanana]

25. ding ding ding ding!

FanTAStic idea! "Flat Fatalities"

[LWolf]

8. What a market! I can see it now.

When they're done with the military families, they can move on to all the kids with "absent" parents or incarcerated parents. Then all the latch-key kids whose parents aren't home much and don't have much time to spend with them.

Before you know it, every kid will have a "flat" parent to talk to and to keep them company. Real parents will be irrelevant. :eyes:

[Atman]

9. Count me as among the disturbed.

I see flat people!

[htuttle]

11. OMG. This isn't an Onion parody -- this is real?

Words fail.

[MaineDem]

12. When I first heard this yesterday...

I was freaked out. Even more so as I thought of the possibility of these cardboard parents being the last thing the children remember of their loved one in the not-so-extreme chance he or she is KIA.

Very sad.

But, if it helps ease the separation anxiety who am I to say it's wrong? I just find it disturbing.

[Dhalgren]

14. I understand your last sentence and am inclined to say

'to each, his own", but there is a reason we experience "separation anxiety" when a loved one departs. It isn't a "bad" thing, it is a real and genuine response to true feelings. Just my $0.02...

[Lowell]

13. Don't we have one of those

in the White House?

[valerief]

15. Can we have a Flat Preznit and Flat Congress, too? n/t

[TlalocW]

17. How cheap

Can't they at least put the heads on springs like in those scenes in, "Blazing Saddles," where they built a replica town complete with people for the bad guys to destroy?

TlalocW

[whistle]

18. Holy shit, maybe the military should start recording hologram images

...to send home. This is really sick.

[gaspee]

19. Ok, that's weird! (N/T)

[AnnInLa]

20. Bizarro World. What happens if

the "loved one" dies in Iraq? Do they also kill the cardboard loved one, thus traumatizing the children twice? Do they stick it in the closet? Throw it into the trash bin? Fold it up and save it for the children, only to pop it out when the children are older? Lordy, lordy.

[Neecy]

23. that was my thought....

So, does this comforting (?) flat daddy become some kind of macabre keepsake if the real daddy dies in Bush's war? What is the family supposed to do with it?

What a sick, bizarre country this has become. I don't even recognize it any longer.

[Javaman]

27. Call me crazy, but if I was that family, I would hold out for the

3D version.

But what do I know.

[uppityperson]

32. I am glad to read this post as I thought I was the only one who wondered

If mommy/daddy gets an arm shot off, do they remove one? Do they put bandages on the head in case of a head injury? While having a picture of a missing parent can be very comforting, why the HELL are they missing anyway?

[lonestarnot]

22. flat dogs, flat cats. Soon they will need a flat house with 5 folding

parts.

[verse18]

26. I have an even better idea.

Bring the troops home and there would be no need for "Flat Mommy" and "Flat Daddy."

[El Fuego]

28. That story is so one-dimensional.

[ComerPerro]

29. i also find it disturbing

[SammyWinstonJack]

30. Okay, that's just creepy. Creepy and bizarre.

:hide:

[Rose Siding]

31. Heaven help us

BRING THEM HOME :grr:

[lies and propaganda]

33. beyond disturbing.

Just bring thier fucking dad home, theres an idea.