"Suddenly, the social 1 percent was subject to the same sort of cyber torment that had in the past been directed at the students at the bottom of the pyramid."
I love the way technology brings about democracy and levels the playing field!
:)
I wish there was a solution, but there just isn't one. I think it just needs to run its course; maybe once everyone gets a black eye, they'll realize that it sucks and stop giving them to others. But I don't think it's quite that simple.
But if someone treats a person badly, and they have the option to get revenge anonymously ... a lot of people find it hard to resist the temptation to hit back. Just this once.
The Roman province of Judea was a number of things, but a "democracy" wasn't one of them.