Thursday, October 31, 2019

What is the 'risk' of thinking the security of liberal governance as Essay

What is the 'risk' of thinking the security of liberal governance as risk management - Essay Example s the most critical aspect of the governance and politics has its roots in the era emerging as an aftermath of the cold war which witnessed the collision of two super powers with each other and resulting split up of the one. What is however, critical to note that after the cold war era, the overall focus from assessing the dangers to the security to the overall risks that may be arising out of the changing situation? This transition from threat based assessment to risk based assessment as well as assuming probabilities and their impact therefore requires a comprehensive understanding of the overall risk approach that has been adapted. This transition therefore needs to be understood in larger context of the political as well as from international relations point of view. The 9/11 Commission also blamed the various security agencies for their failure to anticipate and imagine the threats that were being present to the security of the US. Similar findings were also present into the report of the Commission that probed the London Bombings and stressed on the need for developing the ability of the government agencies to look into the unknown and perceive the various risks that may be arising.(Goede, 2008). This approach therefore requires that the modern societies must develop their abilities to pre-empt the risks and have the required resources and will to combat such risks in different manners. The events of the 9/11 and 7/7 therefore also indicates towards the need for adapting an approach that will allow the governments and societies to bring forth changes that can safeguard them against the potential risks. Traditional methods of countering with the security threats therefore may not suffice given the fact that the world at large has became really fragmented and the conflict of interests between nations is becoming more vivid and threatening. It is argued that with the passage of time, the overall nature and orientation of the concept of risk and security has

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Core Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Core Reflection - Essay Example For some, a passing grade is suffice while others must maintain a certain grade point average. Champlain College integrates two distinct approaches to traditional academics and these two approaches are with a liberal studies program and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. In addition, the purpose of liberal study and general education is a rich experience that combines academic strictness, self-exploration, and global and local awareness. It is important to be in Core class because we are able to take what we learn in class and are able to apply it to what we want for our future. Every student will gain something different from each class and that is true of Core class. Each of us are able to look at our own interests and view things in ways that perhaps were instilled in us in our environment before becoming a student at Champlain. Through student and faculty discussions, we are able to see things in a whole new way and look at the world with different perspectives. We might think that we have a certain job that we are focused on doing and through the self-exploration, we find ourselves soul-searching to see if we can really identify with the objectives of a particular career. Without a Core class, we are able to pinpoint more closely what our objectives are at Champlain so we can meet the goals we have set for ourselves as students. I have been studying Core classes since last summer and some of them are enjoyable but a few of them are not. Because I am transfer student, I had to take Summer Bridge which is COR-130 and it was over a period of six weeks. This really was not too bad, however, I had to learn a lot of information and material in a short period of time compared to a regular semester course. In Core 200 level courses, there are several available options of courses. Unfortunately, there were not many that satisfied my interests so I felt like I was taking random classes and courses and

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Impact Of Technology On The Music Industry

Impact Of Technology On The Music Industry Music industry has been most significantly affected by such revolution of technology during the past few decades. The most significant innovation in the music industry has undoubtedly been the digitalization of music. Digital music technology has completely changed the underlying dynamics and economics of the music industry. From time to time, this has been an issue of debate and has seen many legal actions and sanctions (Matsuura, nd). Along with innovations in music technology, the issue of piracy has become the single most challenging and threatening problem in the music industry which has from time to time raised serious concerns and warned of the consequences on the industry. Music piracy can be formally defined as any form of duplication along with distribution of music without the formal permission from the entity holding the copyrights to that particular music. Directly interlinked with music piracy is the role of internet and related phenomenon such as file sharing or peer-to-peer sharing (P2P). Internet growth and innovation are largely to be blamed and held responsible for the crisis in the music industry circles that affects its three major players including recording companies, artists and consumers (Patokos, 2008). Not only the music industry is facing losses but the quality of music is also threatened by piracy. According to Hull (1998), the music industry profits from its three major revenue streams: Purchase of recorded music. Broadcasting recorded music. Industry for attending live performances. Here is the music industry vale chain as described in Meisel and Sullivan. (2002). The Music Industry Value Chain Source: Meisel et al. (2002), p.18. We all know how easy it is to gain access to the authentic and copyrighted music through duplicated CDs and file sharing (without paying any royalty to the owners of music) on internet (Bozina, Dumancic and Knezevic, 2007). Research Purpose The major purpose of carrying out this research is the importance of significant technological developments on the music industry circles and the ways in which issues such as copyright, authenticity, illegal production and distribution of music affect the various participants of the music industry circle. It will bring into focus the particular technological changes over the past two decades and evolution that has come to impact the way music is produced and distributed. It will also help the readers understand the legal implications of the issue. Finally the research will investigate the major problem areas that threaten the music industry, particularly emphasizing on the revolution of MP3 technology and Compact Discs and it will conclude with quantitative and qualitative analysis of the relevant variables that influence the revenues of music industry. Research Questions Is the modern music industry suffering from pervasive effects of internet theft, piracy and flouting of copyright rules? How important it is to critically analyse the legal and technological implications of the MP3 technology on the business of music? Importance of Research The issue of piracy needs the special attention of industry and law experts as we cannot let the phenomenon continue to wreck the music business. The MP3 effect influences the sales of music albums, though the law can spur legal actions in favour of ban the MP3 use but it is not a practical solution. On the one end technology eases and improves the production and distribution of music and on the other it should provide the end listeners easy and cheaper access to high quality authentic music. Brief Literature Review Until the 1990, music business was correctly anticipated but soon after this period, the forces shaping the business began to change. The first ever music cassette was introduced in 1963 by PhilipsÂÂ ©. It became a very popular mode of entertainment exploited by the car makers (Morton, 2004). The year of 1979 revolutionized by SonyÂÂ © which the first hand held music player device. It came to be known as Sony WalkmanÂÂ © (Thomas, 2006). Both Philips and Sony collaboratively brought in the most advanced technology (still remains so with more advanced variants such as DVD and Blu-RayÂÂ © technology) called as Compact Discs (CDs) and the players used to play the media known as CD players. By 1988, the CDs became the most popular technology for distributing music in standardized format which became universally accepted by the music industry and CDs outsold Long Playing record albums (LP) (University of Minnesota, 2008). The technology called Digital Audio Tape (DAT) w as introduced by Sony the next year. It remained the most popular recording technology for professionals during the 1990s (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The other leader in musical innovation PhilipsÂÂ © launched Digital Compact Cassette to counter SonysÂÂ © DAT technology. SonyÂÂ © released the Mini Disk (MD) in response to DCC. MD provided with professional high quality recording to the professionals (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The music was most dramatically distributed on the CDs and hence their use was most widespread. CDs were used by all of the major recording labels due to persistent decrease in the prices of CDs (Sony GroupÂÂ ©, 2010). The following Table 2.2 presents the change in the prices of CDs in the US music market between 1983 and 2006. Table 2.1. Decline in the prices of CDs from 1983 through 2006. Source: RIAA, 2007 The technology called CD- Recordable (CD-R) was introduced in 1990 and it was the first opportunity for the consumers to successfully duplicate the contents of the music albums without compromising on the quality of music and this allowed for piracy to be practised by consumers and other players such as illegal music uploading sites (OMalley, 1998). In US, 288 million CDs were sold only in one year, 1990 (Amoah, 2005). The role of computing and internet technology proved instrumental in spreading the crisis in the music industry. It was only in 1991 that computers came with the technology that played its users to play and listen to music. This development was attributed to Ad Lib and Creative Labs who introduced the technology of sound cards integrated into personal computers during manufacturing stage (Dixon, 2010). It heightened the interest of consumers to reproduce the authentic contents on CDs, CD-Rs and more advanced recording media such as DVDÂÂ © and Blu-RayÂÂ ©. However the real trouble was the introduction of the technology that made it possible to encode music as digital files on the computers, the most critical one was MPEG3 or MP3 (Motion Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3). MP3 was introduced on 26 November 1996 (Belis, 2010). MP3 became so critical because it allowed users to create copies of music albums to near perfection. The fact that MP3 files could be stored on computers and handled as any other file stored on it, the exchange of such music files was facilitated with an extreme ease. With MP3 came the MP3 players to play them on standalone basis. Elger Labs was the first one to develop and commercially release the MP3 player known as MPman and was priced at whopping $250 only to store some eight songs. The revolution in MP3 players was brought about by Creative Labs in the year 2001 when it released an MP Player with much higher storage capability of 6 Gigabytes in comparison to MPman. But this was just a phase of development and it saw the launch of the worlds most foremost technology in MP3 players, it was the release of the device called IPOD by Apple (Menta, 2004). In todays time most of the youth carry an MP3 player and IPOD remains the most favourite among all the options available. The problem would not get aggravated if mp3 files were restricted in the hands of individual users but the use of internet provided a platform that allowed sharing of music through online modes. The pioneer of music sharing technology was a website known as Napster (Patokos, 2008). This was a platform for various internet users for sharing of music files stored on the computers hard drives between the users. This is known as peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing of files. Napster assumed profuse growth in P2P sharing market until it was successfully busted down by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 2000 with the help of judicial order (Riedel, 2006). The most recent and devastating innovation in the recent years has been the illegal use of a collection of files known as torrents. These torrents are downloadable through applications known as torrent downloader. There are sites such as Pirate Bay and BT Junkie which provide a collection of torrents downloadable by using applications such as Azureus and ÂÂ µtorrent. The torrent era is most destructive because sharing is not confined to sharing of music files. Such sites are now being used for sharing anything from music files, audio books, movies, software and other miscellaneous files. It has almost become a social networking cult among the youth and value of such networks increases as they become larger and more extensive. While the RIAA was successful in cracking down Napsters services, they have been unsuccessful in preventing the expansion of torrent based programs as mentioned ahead in the report. Since the conception of P2P the sale of physical CDs has been steadily declining every year (Powell and Smith-Doerr, 1994). Table 2.3 clearly represents the huge growth in the digital modes of music access and significant declines in the sales of physical music media. The newer and more devastating impact has been inflicted on music industry by applications like torrent downloaders as such networks differ from Napster like technology because they do not rely on a single centralized server but the download is carried out by a user from various servers or seeding points/seeders. Even the law becomes impotent in such situations because no single entity can be blamed for legal action. Manufacturers Unit Shipments and Retail Dollar Value Data Collection The data for the research will be collected from the Consumer Expenditure Survey tables available from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. It is an extensive database which provides minute details about the buying habits of the US consumers, their income and various household characteristics. It also provides survey micro data for individual consumers demographic and expenditure patterns (CES, 2010). I will also consult a range of websites for the purpose of collecting information and statistics related to the music industry. Music industry websites- The Nielsen Company, www.soundscan.com, Recording industry Association of America, http://www.riaa.com, Sony Music, http://www.sonymusic.co.uk, Universal, http://www.universalrecords.com, Warner Brothers Music, http://www.warnerbros.com/music. Audio technology sites- Diamond, http://www.diamonthrun.com, Microsoft, http://www.microsoft.com, Music Match, http://www.musicmatch.com, Real Networks, http://www.real.com. Internet industry sites- Amazon, http://www.amazon.com, CD Baby, http://www.cdbaby.com, Emusic, http://www.emusic.com, MPEG, http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/, Napster, http://www.napster.com. Broadcast sites- BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk, Broadcast.com, http://www.broadcast.com, Cyberville Radio, http://www.cyberville.co.uk. Marketing sites- ViralMarketers.com, http://www.viralmarketer.com, Musicpromotion.net, http://www.musicpromotion.net. Another major database that I will gain access to is the comprehensive statistical analysis known as the Shipment Statistics Database available from The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). I will need to contact RIAA through email to inform then regarding them my projects vital features and they will decide whether to permit access to the database. In the event of permission not being granted I will subscribe to it by paying a nominal fee (RIAA, 2010) Methodology This particular research work will focus on utilizing a research model that enables to exploit the benefits of methods such as qualitative analysis through behavioural questionnaire and interviews with the industry experts. Since the research fundamentally proposes that MP3 CDs and internet file sharing technologies impact the sales of original works of music. It is important to keep in mind the argument that such facilities decreased the CDs sales. To effectively deal with this question of importance, I will collect micro-level data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) available from the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS). It will certainly provide the answer to the debatable question whether file sharing has decreased the CDs sales figures. Similar studies have been carried out by experts such as Liebowitz (2004). I will also examine the connection between ownership of computers by households and figures for expenditures on music. It will help me analyse whether increase in computer ownership increases file sharing by consumers and subsequent decreases CD sales. Thus this study will constitute a blend of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer the mentioned research questions. Is there a solution? The diagram 5.1 below proposes the possible go-ahead for the music industry to survive profitably in the coming future. The first file sharing site, Napster was legally challenged in the court and was finally forced to shut down its illegitimate activity. Source: Bized, (nd).

Friday, October 25, 2019

Mandatory Sentencing Essay examples -- Criminal Justice

Mandatory sentencing is not anything new. It began in the 1970s. The main purpose for mandatory sentencing was to try to get rid of the drug lords and to eliminate most of the nation’s street drug selling. It was to impose that the same crime would have the same sentence all over the nation. Some of the negatives that rose from mandatory sentencing were nonviolent drug offenders and first time offenders who were receiving harsh sentences. Inmate populations and correction costs increased and pushed states to build more prisons. Judges were overloaded with these cases, and lengthy prison terms were mandated to these young offenders. Mandatory sentencing is an interesting topic in which I would like to discuss my opinions in going against mandatory sentencing. I will show the reasons for this topic, as well as give you my personal brief on which I support. To begin, Mandatory minimum sentences result in prison overcrowding, and based on several studies, it does not alleviate crime, for example crimes such as shoplifting or solicitation. These sentencing guidelines do not allow a judge to take into consideration the first time offender, differentiate the deviance level of the offender, and it does not allow for the judge to alter a punishment or judgment to each individual case. When mandatory sentencing came into effect, the drug lords they were trying to stop are not the ones being affected by the sentences. It is the nonviolent, low-level drug users who are overcrowding the prisons as a result of these sentences. Both the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Department of Justice have determined that mandatory sentencing is not an effective way to deter crime. Studies show that mandatory minimums have gone downhill due to racial a... ... OUT OF GET TOUGH JUSTICE? Criminology & Public Policy, 5(1), 37-43. Retrieved December 6, 2010, from Criminal Justice Periodicals. (Document ID: 1016637721). DELIBERATING CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: A WAY OUT OF GET TOUGH JUSTICE? Criminology & Public Policy, 5(1), 37-43. Retrieved November 23, 2010, from Criminal Justice Periodicals. (Document ID: 1016637721). Oct 1993. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Vol. 79. 134 pages (Document ID: 0747-0088) Published by American Bar Association Mandatory Sentencing Laws and Drug Offenders in New York State. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/factsheets/mandatory_ny.cfm. Compiled by Anonymous , The Correctional Association of New York. March 1999. Cindy Swirko. (2010). Florida drug sentences too harsh? Retrieved November 15, 2010 from http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100814/articles/8141011.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Children with Disabilities and Their Shot at Education Essay

The widening gap between the rich and the poor attest to the saying that â€Å"the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer† (Houck, 2006). The book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America which was written by Barbara Ehrenreich showed a vivid picture of how those occupying blue collar jobs fail to make ends meet with a meager income. The irony here lies in the fact that these people occupy jobs whose services or products they can’t even buy. This phenomenon is described by the great philosopher Karl Marx as the Theory of Alienation (Pappenheim, 1959). A worker can no longer claim that the product he is making is truly his, hence, he is alienated from his products and can’t even afford to buy it himself. Alienation is said to be a product of capitalism. Barbara Ehrenreich related in her book that even hotel maids can’t afford a decent place to stay in when in fact they toil more than most middle class men do. Those who work at Wal-mart can’t even buy half of what is being sold in the store that they are working for (Ehrenreich, 2006). Though they work even harder than those who are buying their products they earn only six to seven dollars an hour. Poverty therefore is not caused by laziness because those who are poor work tremendously harder as compared to rich individuals who only sit behind the desk all day and wait for the paycheck (Anderson, . et. al. 2006). These people exhaust every possible way to make ends meet and that includes finding a second job just to pay the rent and cutting down on basic necessities. Even so, what they earn is not enough to cover for all the household expenses. If you take into consideration everyone in a community, only a small fraction of its population enjoys living a well-off life. A majority suffers from lack of resources or doesn’t have enough food to fill their stomachs. Imbalance in the distribution of resources and wealth affects majority of the citizens. The sad reality lies on whom are the ones getting much and who are the ones not getting anything at all. Majority of the people suffer from low wages while people like Ms. Ehrenreich would not even give a wink at dispensing 40 dollars for a pair of khaki pants (Ehrenreich, 2006). Forty dollars for a pair of pants for some would be too much when 15 dollars would do. The ones in the higher echelons of the society are the ones who are not doing actual hard labor. They capitalize from the hard work of the poor working class, literally giving their sweat, sweating their lungs out and blood just to make money. They work hard and gets paid less, barely enough to make a living out of it. Here is where we come to ask, why do they settle for menial jobs? Is there a job shortage in our country? Apparently, there is none. Even foreigners find fulfilling jobs in our country so why cant our own citizens find one? That is because of skills and qualification. Most jobs that pay above minimum wage are those that require a college degree or educational attainment. Not everyone has the opportunity to study in college; therefore not everyone is qualified to get a high paying job. Even if they get to study college, more often than not they are not able to maximize the learning in the school because of factors such as lack of sleep and decent meal. More so for children with disabilities and are from a poor family. There are other factors that affect a child’s learning and comprehension in class and more often than not, these factors are often overlooked especially in a normal class setting. These children are categorized as lazy, mentally slow or hopeless. They suffer from discrimination and â€Å"labeling† which according to psychology, will damage and weaken the child’s perception and self-esteem. Barbara Ehrenreich, in her book, was able to somewhat apply sociological imagination which was coined by C. Wright Mills in 1959 in her analysis on the state of the people in the labor force. She was able to show why these people are often found by their supervisors slack and not so enthusiastic in their jobs. This is due to lack of sleep and fatigue caused by having two jobs, not having proper and complete meal, and lacking other necessities that makes a worker productive. She went beyond the conventional notion that they are inherently lazy and is not competitive. The sociological imagination links poverty to larger picture, one that occurs in society as a whole and not just on the individual (Mills, 2000). If sociological imagination is to be applied in a classroom setting, a child with disabilities coming from a poor family not being able to keep up with the lessons will not be viewed as sheer laziness by the child or the parents. Rather, a broader picture will enable the teachers to analyze the complexities of poverty that ultimately caused the child to exhibit slow performance in class or even cause the child’s disability. For one, an impoverished family can’t afford regular check ups and medicines upon conception of the child. This alone increases the risks of having complications during pregnancy. We can’t blame the parents if they have no money in preparation for the pregnancy because this family is caught up in the complex web of poverty. The parents might be working hard to give the child a better future but factors such as inflation, epidemic, wide scale cost-cutting of companies, national depression and other factors may have hindered them from preparing for the birth of the child. The rate of poverty for families with children below 18 years of age is 27% (Jackson, 2000). Poverty for a child with disabilities can cause him his future. For one, parents fail to give these children proper medicines and other necessities for them to function normally. Consequently, these parents can’t afford to enroll their child in a school for children with disabilities. As a result, they either become the laughing stock of the entire classroom or they stop going to school. Either way, if they don’t get proper education they too will be caught up in the vicious cycle of poverty (Zou, 2005). Inclusive Classrooms The philosophy of inclusion operates on the premise that a child with disabilities will learn more about society and will have better chances at his future when he is not segregated from society itself. Simply put, inclusion setting allows for children with disabilities to participate in a normal class and encourage him to participate like a normal student instead of discriminating him on the grounds of his disabilities (Salend, 2007). The classroom then becomes a pool of diverse students wherein children with disabilities learn to socialize with normal children and normal children will then learn to respect and not discriminate children with disabilities or those who have cultural background (Salend, 2007). This setting is said to be beneficial to both the normal and special children since they will be able to socialize and prepare for their encounter with diverse individuals in the future. Inclusive setting entails collaboration with the parents and is a tedious process. It is a participatory process wherein the children and the parents are part of the planning and not just mere receivers. They asses the needs of the students and adjust to it so that they will be able to address their individual needs. However such task requires much effort from the teachers, parents and the students (Salend, 2007). This is where most of the dilemma comes from. If the effort of the teachers in the inclusive setting is the same as those in the special learning institution, they ought to be paid much higher than normal teachers. A participatory classroom setting really needs much effort and patience for it to work, however if the goal of the educator/teacher is to teach efficiently then effort should not be an issue. As an educator it is their duty and pride to see their students learn. The success of inclusive learning is a case-to-case basis since the needs of the students are different. There are students who require stringent measures in a classroom setting because of health risks of aggressive behaviors. While inclusive setting is good for the social and emotional skills of a child, the safety and health of the students should be taken into consideration. Conclusion Inclusive classrooms give a ray of hope for those who are financially challenged. It increases the chances of a physically challenged child to have a better shot at his future. Much like most of the children from poor families, the chances of these children in getting low-wage or below minimum wage jobs will also decrease. Once they acquire the skills needed for high paying jobs then the cycle of poverty in their own family will be broken. However such is just a small part of the poverty puzzle. The U. S. as an industrialized country, has one of the widest inequality gaps in the world in terms of income (Schifferes, 2003). Despite its ability to generate income, it remains a fact that even powerful corporations and few individuals still hold more than 60 percent of the economy. Capitalism as Marx would put it will always divide and widen the gap between those who do labor and those who sit and watch them work, thus, the rich and the poor. Poverty will never be resolved overnight or it may not be the concern of the government or the society, but it is the duty of the government or the state to ensure equal distribution of wealth. They should protect the basic rights and interest of its people because the state is created by the people and for the people. The government must provide better programs with regards to education, in which it will cater the need of poor families. Education must be considered as a right not a privilege. It is indeed true that the chances of getting a good quality of education for the poor is thin, however by maximizing the resources such as the ordinary classroom setting and transforming it to inclusive classroom setting, even poverty can be alleviated. It is through collaborative and participatory action that a society can achieve progress.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Crucible Study Essay

Between February 1692 and may 1693 there were a series of hangings because of people accused of witchcraft in Salem Massachusetts. I think Abigail is the guiltiest person in the Crucible because she had an affair with John Proctor and tried to kill his wife. Abigail convinced a lot of people that witchcraft was real or intimidated them into going along with it. She also convinced the girls and herself to send many to their deaths. The first reason I believe Abigail is guilty is that she had an affair with John Proctor and tried to kill his wife. The affair happened when Abigail was in service as a maid to John and Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth was sickly and bedridden at the time. Then later in the story she stuck a needle in the poppet that Mary was making in the court house and accused Elizabeth of witchcraft so that when they go to search Elizabeth Proctor’s house, they would find the poppet with a needle stuck into it and then Abigail stabbed her self in the gut with a smal l needle to make it appear like voodoo. So then Elizabeth would get arrested and tried as a witch. If she wouldn’t confess then she would hang witch is exactly what Elizabeth wanted. She also approached John when he was alone multiple times trying to convince him to leave Elizabeth and run away with her. The more John ignored her and told her it wasn’t going to happen the more irritated and desperate she got driving Abby to get Elizabeth hung as mentioned above. The second reason I believe she is the guiltiest person in the novel is that she convinced a lot of people that witchcraft was real or intimidated them into going along with it. Such as when Parris sees them dancing in the woods she tries to cover it up and insists that nothing happened in the woods. But after continuous questioning and pressure she says that Tituba and Ruth were conjuring the spirits of Putnam’s dead babies. Mercy then shows up when Parris leaves and Abigail tells Mercy to say that they were dancing in the woods and that Parri s saw her naked. Abigail then tries to wake Betty to talk to her but she keeps faking ill. Abby tries to tell Betty that she admitted everything to Parris and that it’s ok now. But then Betty suddenly  wakes and tells Abby that she didn’t admit to drinking blood and drinking a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife. And then later when Mary tries to get Abby to confess she says â€Å"Witchery’s a hangin’ error! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things!† But Abby tells her that they all took part so all of the girls would be whipped. Abby then tells the whole group of them that if anybody tells she’ll kill them in their sleep. And tells them you all know I can because my parents were killed by Indians in front of me when I was very young. The Final reason I believe that she is to blame is that she convinced or used the girls and herself to send many to their deaths. One of the first examples is how she used Mary Warren to get at Elizabeth Proctor by shoving the needle in Mary’s poppet that she was making for Elizabeth so that she could accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft and have her hung. Another good example is how she acted as if Mary Warren was sending her sprit out as a bird with talons and huge wings to make Mary seem like a witch when she was going to confess the truth behind the girls’ lies, and also how the girls were influenced by Abby’s actions. So in conclusion, Abigail had an affair with John Proctor and tried to kill his wife. She convinced many that witch craft was real or intimidated and threatened them into going along with it. Abigail also got or used the girls to send many people to jail and many to their deaths. Those are the reasons I am forced to believe that Abigail is to blame and it the guiltiest person in the story. Work Cited Mary Warren’s Quotes pages 18-19 Act One