Earlier quoted context omitted.
Randomly jumping on a flight into Japan to wander around asking people in English if they need help is obviously stupid. But that's not just stupid for Japan, that's stupid for pretty much everywhere. Pointing out its stupidity isn't useful - people who would do that aren't listening to you anyways - so why conflate that sort of behavior with simple, non-disruptive, non-panic-inducing actions like donating money to t…
they'll spend it somewhere else "Spend it somewhere else" was exactly what I wrote in my blog post, but when the New York Times says "We can give you three hundred words" then Priority #1 is "Don't Panic" and Priority #Left_On_Cutting_Room_Floor is explaining to people how relief organizations actually operate.
Re: Patrick McKenzie (patio11) on Japan Aid: Help for the Well-Prepared
#71"Everything you actually could do is worthless to us, but please send all possible help for this scary thing that you don't understand and can't possibly actually assist with" is the opposite of "Don't Panic". It conveys helplessness and disempowers your readers.