My 12 year old son was involved in some very disgusting abuse activity on the IPod not too long ago...texting and so on.
I stepped in and threatened to report all of them to the Principal of his school.
It was basically a case of all of them saying something that was a little dramatic, and then got exaggerated by another who got all sooky and thin-skinned and on it went from there.
To my disappointment, my son was not totally innocent, by the way...
My wife and I have always tried to educate him about being nasty to folks, about not responding to mere words - to ignore and/or laugh words off.
This incident gave him a massive wake-up call about how to not follow that advice can get kids/adults into trouble, and cause them to be unhappy. He is learning to ignore all the silly vitriol that pours out of the kids' (and adults') internet world.
He even brings the IPod to me now to show me folks' comments, and we have a laugh at what has been typed/said to or about others. It's funny, but not funny - but it's also how you handle it. I have even shown him comments thrown at me here on SS to illustrate to him how I handle them (emotionally) - I treat them in a light hearted way and not get upset at all, and usually respond without getting nasty and too personal.
It's quite alarming when you think these are 12 year olds, but it just goes to show how things can go at all ages if you let it, and how much it seems to be normal human behaviour, unfortunately. Many twelve year olds aren't yet educated a lot in these social matters of course..it takes a few more years for them to fully understand the ramifications of these things, and hopefully they make the right choices.
No matter what age, race, colour, religion - we all need to be like Corporal Ben - he is not bothered by tiresome insects who say stupid things...he has faced far whose and is above all that.
Or, you can take it on board, take it to heart, get all sooky and hurt feelings and be a victim.