# Meme Card: Consensus Capture Detection

## Term

Consensus Capture Detection

## One-line Definition

Consensus-building processes can be designed to manufacture agreement rather than discover it.

## Full Definition

This piece shows how group decision-making can be structured to produce predetermined outcomes while maintaining the appearance of democratic process. The critique is on design patterns that hide capture, not on consensus itself.

## When To Use

- A group is building consensus and you need to check whether the process is open or captured.
- Process design is being treated as neutral when it actually biases outcomes.
- You need to make decision-making capture visible.

## Not This

This is not anti-consensus or anti-group-decision. It is a call for transparent process design, not captured process disguised as consensus.

## Caption Options

- Check the process, not just the result.
- Consensus building can be captured.
- Design determines outcome.

## Post Hook

When consensus-building processes are designed in advance to produce predetermined outcomes, democracy becomes theater. This meme suggests making process design choices visible and contestable.