This is a fascinating piece by conservative political commentator Richard Hanania. Essentially, he admits that "pronouns" and many other manifestations of "Wokism" are far less significant than other issues, and concedes that his emphasis on these matters is in large part based on his visceral emotional reactions and esthetic preferences. Yet he defends that emphasis, nonetheless. I think he's right that these kinds of visceral and esthetic factors play an important role in forming political views, and not just on the right.
My take on Wokism isn't quite the polar opposite of Hanania's (I don't think most of it is actually good). But I do assign the issue far less significance than he does, and considerably less even than the average libertarian intellectual. I have what Hanania would call "System 2" logical arguments for this stance. But I admit some of the difference is likely the result of different "System 1" emotional reactions. For example:
Hanania hates "androgyny." I couldn't care less about it. Ditto for whether swimsuit models on SI or Vogue are fat or thin. Maybe it would bother me if everyone was androgynous all the time, or if images of conventionally attractive people were unavailable or hard to find. But I see zero chance of our ever even getting close to that.
I was at the same 2019 APSA conference as Hanania and saw the same "pronoun" pins. I had a good laugh about them, then quickly forgot about them (until this article reminded me). Basically, I see such things as a minor annoyance, not the existential horror they are to Hanania.
More generally, very few of my political views are meaningfully influenced by essentially esthetic preferences. That's in sharp contrast to many social conservatives, at least a few libertarians, and some people on the left, as well. My deep opposition to mask mandates may be an exception. But, even there, the visceral reaction is driven more by the intense pain and discomfort prolonged masking causes me, and the inhibition of communication, rather than by esthetic distaste for seeing masks (though I have some of the latter, too). I Would add that, unlike Hanania with wokism, I have NOT made mask issues a major focus of my writings, as my visceral hatred of them has not prevented me from focusing on other, more important issues.
That's not to say that my political views have been formed purely by rational, objective consideration of arguments. Very unlikely that is the case.
What do I really hate, much like Hanania hates woke pronouns? Socialism and nationalism! I think this hatred is amply justified by logic and evidence. These two ideologies, in their various manifestations, have filled the world with corpses (tens of millions of them), and spread untold misery and oppression even to many millions they didn't kill. While more moderate versions are less bad than the most extreme ones, they're still awful (being "only," say, 5-10% as bad as Nazism or communism is horrendous). This is why I hate the likes of Trump and le Pen (relatively moderate but still awful nationalists) and Bernie Sanders (relatively moderate but still awful socialists) far more than I care about any woke types. Importantly, my hostility to these ideologies in all their manifestations has little to do with esthetic considerations or "disgust" reactions.
But, obviously, I'd be lying if I said that my hostility to nationalism and socialism is purely a matter of rational "System 2" thinking (using the same terminology as Hanania). Personal history plays a role, too. After all, I'm a refugee from socialism, and also a Jew. Ashkenazic Jews are nearly paradigmatic victims of nationalism, not just the Nazi version, but almost every other European nationalist movement of the last 150 years. Still, it's notable that my reaction to this is hostility to nationalism on principle, as opposed to advocating Jewish nationalism (the path taken by the Bundists and Zionists). And I think I can much more easily explain to a person with zero emotional investment in the subject why they should oppose nationalism and socialism, than Hanania could explain why such a person should care about woke pronouns or "androgyny." The former kills and oppresses millions of people, while the latter, to put it mildly, doesn't.
Could I, in reality, be just as flawed in my priorities as Hanania in his? The possibility can't be dismissed. If it were true, I probably wouldn't know it! But those huge piles of corpses piled up by the socialists and nationalists are at least some indication that my obsessions are (hopefully!) somewhat more rational than those of people obsessed with wokism.