Although most Americans will have the first response to laugh to New York Yankees pitcher Chan Ho Park’s diarrhea comment, it truly shows a cultural divide between The United States and South Korea. Sports media in The US – particularly New York – approach players aggressively. Players who don't "play ball" and submit to all questioning are considered to be "malcontent" or "clubhouse cancer." After those labels are affixed, credit repair is needed. Yet South Korean culture dictates that athletes and citizens in general place high value on such concepts as che-myun (“saving face”) and kongson (“politeness”). In explaining why he’d pitched ineffectively in his two appearances previous to the legenda! ry April 7 “Chan Ho Park diarrhea” video, Park no doubt wanted to set up common ground with the American reporters and be cooperative when establishing the bigger picture for his stint of poor pitching.
Not a unique New York Yankee experience – Chan Ho Park and diarrhea
If Chan Ho Park announced diarrhea in 1986, the New York Media would have told him to come up with a better excuse. Back then, the New York spotlight caused Yankee pitcher Ed Whitson to literally get gastro-intestinal distress. If Chan Ho Park's salary was tied up with investments at the moment, the problem could easily have been addressed by payday installment loans. South Koreans don't have the sense of humor to think that diarrhea is funny as Americans would feel. And, as stated above, it is culturally taboo not to cooperate with authority figures (and the media are treated with less scorn in Asian countries like South Korea than they are in America). If you watch the video it is clear that Chan Ho Park was just being honest and is confused by why everyone thought the comment was so funny. Either that or he has a fantastic poker face.
Power Distance Index and Chan Ho Park diarrhea
The Power Distance Index (PDI) according to Geert Hofstede, psychologist, measures how a culture deals with authority and hierarchy. According to veteran military pilot and essayist Albert Southwick, “a culture with a high PDI is more apt to respect authority even when authority is plainly in error.” The media seems to always push for a sensational story because of the low American PDI score also as the general lack of respect for foreign beliefs and authority. South Korea has a high PDI score meaning a native of South Korea would respect media authority whether or not they’re invading his privacy. That might be why Chan Ho Park complied with their questions and revealed exactly what Americans would consider TMI – too much info.
But that’s nothing in contrast to flaming plane wrecks
More studying of Southwick's article will show the Chan Ho Park diarrhea dynamic on a very much more significant scale. Korean Airline jets got into many fatal accidents in the 1990s. It is speculated that these happened because instead of questioning the clarity of instructions from the English air traffic control towers, so as to avoid questioning authority, the Korean pilots misunderstood in silence. ”Chan Ho Park diarrhea” is hardly a “Koreagate” when in contrast to life lost, right?
Resourcesfor the Article
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Hofstede
clearlycultural.com
http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/power-distance-index/
thefreelibrary.com
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/When cultural taboos can be deemed life-and-death matter.(COMMENTARY)-a0191821762
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