You cannot awaken someone who is pretending to sleep.

The saying is used to describe situations where someone is not merely uninformed but is actively refusing to acknowledge information. In that case, attempts to persuade or educate them are ineffective because the resistance is intentional.

If a person is deliberately acting as though they don’t see or understand something, evidence and argument won’t help; change requires willingness, not just information.

But you can wake a man only if he is really asleep; no effort that you may make will produce any effect upon him if he is merely pretending sleep.

You can’t wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep.

It is, therefore, mere waste of energy to awaken one, who is wide-awake, but only feigns sleep.

One wakes a sleeper; one does not wake a pretender.