We’ve all heard about flash mobs, when a large group of people suddenly assembles at a prearranged place and time to perform or convey a message. The new phenomenon is something I’ve dubbed misinformation mobs, where a large group of people suddenly rallies around a falsehood, turning that falsehood into a national cause or motto.

We saw it happen in Ferguson, Missouri, with the “Hands up, don’t shoot” slogan that became the rallying cry of protesters across the country.

Forget the fact that the slogan was based on a lie. It was powerful, it was motivating, and it was unifying.

Another innocent, young black man has been killed by another white cop!

And with that simple bit of misinformation, a national protest movement began.

It’s as easy as one headline, one tweet, or one YouTube video going viral, and before you know it, the misinformation mob is on the move – and once the misinformation hits the fan, it’s almost impossible to separate truth from perception.

This is not to deny that many black Americans were already deeply suspicious of the police, nor is it to deny the existence of police brutality.

Yet when it comes to Ferguson, even the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Eric Holder, concluded that there was no truth to the “Hands up, don’t shoot” narrative, and if there was anyone who would have gladly confirmed the narrative, it was Holder.

But who cares about the truth? Misinformation spreads much faster and is often much more convenient. And in this age of instant communication, an age marked by a lack of deep, critical thinking and the frequent absence of serious research, a catchy, misleading sound bite gets “halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on” (to quote and contemporize Winston Churchill’s famous saying about the speed with which a lie spreads).

We saw the rise of the misinformation mobs again in the last week with Indiana’s religious freedom law, to the point that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence had to call for a press conference just days after signing the bill in order to “clarify” its intent.

Many journalists and commentators (including me) pointed out the almost hysterical reaction to the bill, despite the fact it was so mainstream that even a moderate like Jeb Bush said, “I think Governor Pence has done the right thing.”

One day before the news conference, which had an air of weariness and almost defeat about it, Gov. Pence, in the Wall Street Journal, offered an articulate, clear-headed defense of the bill, which really does mirror the federal bill signed into law by President Clinton in 1993 and one supported later by then-Sen. Obama. In fact, it was a bill Sen. Ted Kennedy helped introduce.

Yet today, in 2015, when Gov. Pence signs a similar bill into law, he and his state run headlong into the misinformation mob.

How else do you explain governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York banning all non-essential, state-funded travel to Indiana? (Seriously.)

Yet as extreme and unprecedented as this ban is, Cuomo was one of at least six governors or mayors calling for similar bans. In the words of Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, “Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana Legislature have to understand that such blatant discrimination against their own citizens cannot stand. We, as a country, have moved so far from those shameful practices of the past.”

This is nothing less than misinformation mob madness, as governors, mayors and even university presidents are being swept along with it, not to mention even multiplying the misinformation and misperception.

And if government and education leaders can get this so wrong, it’s no surprise that celebrities like Ashton Kutscher are getting it wrong. As Kutscher tweeted out, “Indiana are you also going to allow Christian establishments to ban Jews from coming in? Or Vice Versa? Religious freedom??? #OUTRAGE.” (As of 10:30 p.m., EDT, March 31, 2015, this was retweeted 1,815 times and favorited 2,112 times.)

The real #OUTRAGE is that lies and mischaracterizations can spread so rapidly that by the time the truth surfaces, terrible damage has been done.

How, then, do we combat the rising tide of misinformation mobs?

First, we prepare in advance for the onslaught, which (surprisingly) Gov. Pence said he was not expecting. Being forewarned is being fore-equipped.

Second, we get our talking points in order ahead of time, putting out a barrage of truth (tweetable, if possible) before the misinformation mobs can gather.

Third, we do our best to anticipate the falsehoods and exaggerations that we’ll be confronted with, undermining them with our truthful talking points and having prepared ready responses to the lies.

Fourth, we determine to weather the initial storms that will surely come when we do what is right, knowing that ultimately, truth will triumph.

As the Apostle Paul so aptly said, “For we can do nothing against the truth, only for the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:8).

Misinformation mobs are powerful, but they can (and must) be defeated.