Counterculture began, as some would have it, in New York, when Solomon and Cassady were dancing down the street like dingledodies, and Kerouac was shambling after them, recording the whole thing with his near-perfect memory. From the early days of Beatniks fighting the conformity and modesty of the 1950's through the anti-war protests of the Hippies all the way to the present day, where lovers of dubstep protest that nobody around them understands them, counterculture has been going strong in America. Yet, its hard to look at these rebels and not see the tragedies. So many die of alcoholism and overdose, depressed and dejected by society. America compels them by forces, both subtle and obvious, to conform of die. As great as their victories are, the people of counterculture are constantly crushed into conformity or death by the American System.