Salon

Friday, May 29, 2026 @ 07:00 PM EDT

The Unspeakable — Do Any Taboos Remain? A DC Salon with Wisdom of Crowds

-(MeisterDrucke-81667).jpg&w=3840&q=75)

A live conversation with Christine Emba, Shadi Hamid, Anna Gát, and Damir Marusic.

Presented by Wisdom of Crowds × Interintellect

Every society has things you’re not supposed to say. Not lies, exactly — more like truths that have been flagged as dangerous, or questions that mark you as suspect for even asking. The list is not set in stone. It shifts. It grows. It shrinks. And the paradox is that almost everyone instinctively knows what’s on it.

So how does something become unspeakable? Not impolite — unutterable. What machinery makes a thought go from common knowledge to forbidden knowledge? What do people lose when they comply — and what do they risk when they don’t?

This isn’t a conversation about how to be more civil. It’s about the strange physics of public silence.

Doors at 7, show at 8