Woke Apnea

If you lived in the 1960s you are probably familiar with many of the songs written and produced by Detroit’s creative trio of Holland, Dozier and Holland. Martha and the Vandellas, The Miracles, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye and The Four Tops—all enjoyed Top-10 hits thanks to their successful collaboration. One of their compositions which climbed to number 18 on the 1966 Billboard charts featured this heart-pounding refrain :

Somebody shake me, wake me when it's over
Somebody tell me that I'm dreamin'
And wake me when its over.

The voice of Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops resonates in my head whenever I watch network news or think seriously about the content of so much that is fed to me in TV shows and commercials.  Shake me, wake me when it’s over.  On occasion I’ve shared this feeling with friends my age, usually ending with my comment, “I don’t recognize the planet on which I’m now living.”  Have things changed that much since the now romanticized decades of the 50s and 60s? Or am I now sensing the same perplexity that people in their sunset years have always felt when looking back upon their youth?

Over the years most of us have tried to measure up to those ideals of exceptionality and popularity that were au currant. We have worked at being cool, neat, hip, groovy, rad, boss, fly, phat, sweet, dank, or even bad—which for a time meant good. Heaven forbid we ever found ourselves or our homies (people with whom we identify, perhaps from our own neighborhoods) dissed (short for dismissed) by being called morons, jerks, nerds, geeks, dorks, dweebs, or wallies. My rather limited stab at slang underscores its two most enduring features:  slang is a powerful labeler of people and groups and it always has an expiration date.

Perhaps youth’s most distinctive invention, slang, is a cultural connector of people who have ears to hear and understand the new codes each new generation brings into currency. Slang is also a cultural divider, leaving parents and other grownups confounded and alienated in the drift they seem unable to catch. Right now I find myself uneasy in what seems a moment of “slang limbo.” Like other baby boomers many of my language patterns seem out of synch with those born between 1980-2000, the millennials,, whose voices and values are taking center stage. Let me explain.

 One millennial term now peaking in its use and suggestibility is “woke.” First coined in the early 1960s, it has catapulted to life in the past ten years. I hear it and see it in print every day. Woke is a shortened version of the past tense of the verb wake, whose forms we once had to memorize: today I wake, yesterday I woke, and many times I have awakened. In slang reference I imagine it now might be conjugated like this: today I am woke, yesterday I may or may not have been woke, and many times I have been woke. Connotatively, woke captures those ideas and passions associated with a specific awareness and commitment to social justice as it relates to race, sexuality and the environment. Those who are woke believe they see things as they really are, entitling and empowering them to call out, oppose, and even silence those who see things otherwise.  

The metaphor of being awake, or woke, is anything but new. It is the cornerstone of the philosophy of the Nepalese sage Siddhartha Gautama who awakened to the core truths underlying life itself more than 2500 years ago.  His followers revered and remembered him accordingly as the Buddha, “the one who woke up.”  Then as now, the connection between seeing things as they really are and being awake has inspired people to both reflection and action. Then, as now, the claim to be awakened or “woke” has elevated some ideas and values above others, giving them power and influence that some take to be absolute.  Then, as now, these enlightened viewpoints and practices warrant our thoughtful analysis and honest consideration in judging their validity.

The recent upsurge in wokeness has drawn me to another term that has become part of our everyday speech during the past three decades:  apnea.  This medical condition affects 26% of adults between the ages of 30 and 70—roughly 1 out of 4 Americans—who experience interrupted sleep.  Apnea can be caused by an obstruction in our air passages or by some disconnect between the brain and the respiratory system.  Those with apnea run higher risks for heart trouble, stroke, or diabetes. They are more prone to daytime drowsiness that can make them less alert during the day, with serious consequences when driving. A multi-billion dollar industry has come into being to remedy apnea, putting CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) machines and devices into the hands, and noses, of the sleep deprived.

Now, how do The Four Tops, slang, woke and apnea all connect?  The summons to become woke that is being preached to all Americans, be they white, black, Hispanic, Asian, indigenous, gay, straight, both or unsure, is a clarion call to end injustice, racism, discrimination, and all of those real and suspected evils that have marked the human condition since our beginnings. To some it is a liberating message, to others it a misguided one. For them the woke agenda, couched in buzz phrases like virtue signaling, culture cancelling, identity politics, gender, diversity and equity generates both fear and resistance. It’s not just the content of the woke gospel that is resented.  A double standard is perceived to be coming from the lips of woke evangelists, a “do what I say, not what I do” message that appears disingenuous and corrupt.  Perhaps the majority of Americans just hope that the woke phenomenon will prove to be like so many other progressive surges of conviction that have left a mark on our history, stirring the waters for a time before morphing into something else, something newer and more compelling to those removed from our time and circumstance. 

As I think about and assess what being woke may mean for me and our country, I can’t help but think that, instead of waking us up to a more authentic understanding of reality, wokeness resembles a moment of cultural apnea that is clouding the judgment and impairing the vision of those now so caught up in its propagation. Symptoms of woke apnea express a born-yesterday amnesia about history and human nature, selectively recalling the faults and sins of certain groups awhile trumpeting the innocence and virtue of others.  Their blanket condemnations of those they disdain, whether living or dead, seem to be based on stereotypes that, like all such generalizations, are never completely true nor totally false.  As I listen to woke advocates I sense they are breathing through an obstructed intellectual airway in which reason, historical context and common sense about human nobility, fallibility and fragility have been blocked. Those with sleep apnea are typically identified by their loud and explosive snoring that bothers those within earshot.  Could that also be true of those with woke apnea, the sound and fury of their proclamations disturbing those forced to listen to it?

I don’t foresee this condition of cultural woke apnea responding to any CPAP intervention that can be prescribed by physicians, politicians or any of our celebrities du jour.  I’d like to think that the basic goodness and intelligence we have come to rely upon in the American character will see us through and beyond this season of our discontents and divisions. As in all things worth our time and understanding, those now declaring themselves woke deserve our respect and understanding.  At the same time the woke narrative demands the very best of our capacity to think critically and fairly so that we, woke or not, may discern the truth we need if we have any hope of living together in these challenging times.

I recommend to those interested in reading more on this topic to check out the Victor Davis Hanson piece, “Can the Great Awokening Succeed” at: https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/11/can-the-great-awokening-succeed/