I just realised another thing: “preaching to the choir” is a classic case of the exception making the rule. You see, it is an exception that defines that the message is not being delivered to the default audience. Which has nothing to do with whether it is useless or not, it’s just an interesting example of the concept of defining the default by stating the exception.
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Wouldn’t the “default audience” depend on whether the intent is to persuade, inform or rally?
The default audience is, as I see it, the people who came to hear the sermon. The “choir” is the small subset that supports and amplifies. Thus “preaching to the choir” is often used to denote directing the message to a subset of those listening instead of addressing all those who came to listen.
I will grant that modern usage does suggest that the “default audience” isn’t present, that the orator is wasting effort trying to convince those already convinced. If I say “but I’m just preaching to the choir” that means my message is not properly attuned to the audience. Instead of treating the choir as allies to help spread the message, I am still wasting time trying to get them on my side when they are on my side all along. As you rightly point out, it can mean I am trying to persuade those who are already persuaded, and instead expected/needed a pep talk.
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I never really like the whole, “The right wing death cult does it and it works for them, so why don’t we do it too?” thing. Cults tailor their recruitment strategies to target people who are most vulnerable to indoctrination. You can’t just use the same tactics to built a broad political consensus.
I think this is right about the basic idea that it’s necessary to talk to people you agree with about how you agree with them, but I don’t like bringing Fox News into it. You can’t used fascist strategy to beat fascists.
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