Ted Rall for December 12, 1998

Transcript:

It seemed like a trivial inconvenience at first. (Man 1: They're changing out area code to 826) (Man 2: What?! That's no area code!) But after a while, a funny thing happened. What began as less than nothing soon became a subtle identifier. (Man 2: Here's my number- please give me a call.) (Woman: "826" Isn't that North County?) Differences, as usual, led to conflict. (Man 3: Watch the road, you "514" soothed!) Unfortunately, the meaningless conflict led to serious tragedies. (Man 4: The louse tried to steal my area code!) But in the end. It was up to outsiders to use reason to impose peace. (Man 5: Your phones have all been disconnected. Instead you'll all be communicating by e-mail.)