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I’m not sure why I was so surprised that Syrian rebels are using iPads to aim weapons but it put a very real face on something I have taken for granted and once I saw this in the news I put my iPad down and haven’t touched it since. Don’t worry, it isn’t a permanent thing but I realized today that perhaps I have been a little in denial about the Syrian conflict going on.
The image above was posted by Reuters with the following caption:
“A member of the ‘Ansar Dimachk’ Brigade, part of the ‘Asood Allah’ Brigade which operates under the Free Syrian Army, uses an iPad during preparations to fire a homemade mortar at one of the battlefronts in Jobar, Damascus September 15, 2013. REUTERS/ Mohamed Abdullah”
Speculation points to using the iPad to set the angle of the mortar, which seems like overkill considering the power of the iPad. I decided to search until I found other instances of iPads being used in Syria and found isolated instances of iPads being used to document the events going on.
I’m not sure if this is the type of photo-op that Apple is looking for and they probably wont be using it as their new marketing campaign, but I’d like to see Microsoft poke fun at the Free Syrian Army’s use of an iPad instead of their tablet. In fact, I’m pretty sure Saturday Night Live is already getting a skit ready.
After looking at photos for the better part of an hour and reading a number of articles about rebel forces, it is a testament to the durability of iPad design that these troops are using them in this situation. And while I wouldn’t want to meet some of these people in a dark alley, I certainly appreciate their ingenuity and MacGyver style. Either way, I would certainly prefer that iPads be used for peace and constructive tasks instead of bombing and killing.
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