The Reaper, Good or Bad?

By Paige Uzzell

Every college student loves a good laugh, I mean who wouldn’t? We are all here for a good time … well, that and a college degree. As far as comedy goes, the Sower does not really bring that to the table, which is fine because that is not our primary role in the news business. 

The Reaper, Concordia’s unofficial satirical news site, does a much better job of bringing a few laughs from bored college students scrolling through social media. The Sower is here to bring important real news to the campus and the community while the Reaper delivers news that never really happened in a hilarious way.

Recently the Reaper wrote a story titled “Top 10 Canidates to Replace President Friedrich” which included Gandalf (a Lutheran version), a real bulldog (‘sko dawgs) and the Naked Man Statue (he has been here for a long time, I think he would do a good job). We featured this presidential topic in our official story “CUNE Says Goodbye to Beloved President Friedrich.” 

It is fun, at least for me, to compare the Reaper’s stories with ours. I think it is good for us to read what other students are writing and see what is interesting to the people on campus. It also helps that every story they write is just for fun–there really is nothing heavy about it–they just bring a smile to your face.

The Reaper actually started off as a revolt against our very own Sower. I think that is pretty important, which is why I am here today. The original Reaper was created by a former employee of the Sower who thought that the Sower was going to die away and not become the paper that it is today. Well here we are, and I think that we owe part of it to this person. He helped push us to get our own website and to cover a wider variety of stories. Today the Sower has a website, the Cyber Sower, print editions and 20 or so employees that are looking to improve what we do everyday. 

I think it is important to have a satirical news site here at Concordia. I am going to be honest, I would not have wanted to be managing editor of the Sower when the Reaper started, but I think the staff at that time did a good job of taking it in stride and improving. It is important for progress that we challenge the norm. It helps us grow as individuals and as a society.

The Sower’s job is to be an open forum for the students and faculty here at Concordia.  We are here to bring the news, no matter the consequences, and to improve every single day. The satrical’s job is to criticize what is going on through humor. We all play a different role, and each role is important. 

We took the criticism and grew from it, and we have become who we are today because of it. So we will not change to be a comedic newspaper, but we will play our role in the game of news. We will enjoy the comedic relief that the Reaper and other satirical news sites publish. 

So while I would love to write a story about a bulldog becoming the new president of Concordia, I think it would benefit us all if the Sower stuck with the truth and the Reaper did what the Reaper does best: bringing the entertainment.