A bit tautological. It is right to the group that developed consensus. Scientific consensus is a special case because you're talking about a consensus of experts. I don't see how the general public could have any power to uncover universal truths whatsoever. If that were the case, we wouldn't need science.
Mechanism by which it became consensus: Hurting/killing the contrarians
Lots of consensus is so consensual that we don’t even hold it as a thing we agree on.