When laughter is probably the initial response of Americans to New York Yankees pitcher Chan Ho Park’s diarrhea comment, the incident, in reality, reflects a cultural divide between The United States and South Korea. Especially in New York – Sports media in The United States approaches players aggressively. Players are expected to “play ball” and submit to their questions, or they’re labeled some form of “malcontent” or “clubhouse cancer.” Credit repair is needed after those labels are affixed. 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 legendary April 7 “Chan Ho Park diarrhea” video, Park no doubt wanted to set up common ground with the American reporters and be cooperative while 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. Yankees pitcher Ed Whitson got gastro-intestinal distress because of the New York spotlight back then. If Chan Ho Park’s salary was tied up with investments at the moment, the problem could easily are addressed by cheap payday loans. South Koreans don’t have the sense of humor to think that diarrhea is funny as Americans would feel. As stated above, it is taboo culturally if you don’t cooperate with authority figures (the media being treated with less scorn in Asian countries than in The US). Chan Ho Park was being honest and was confused by how funny the American reporters find his statement if you watch the video. Either that or he has been working on his poker face.
Power Distance Index and Chan Ho Park diarrhea
According to Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede, the Power Distance Index (PDI) measures how a particular culture deals with hierarchy and authority. 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 low PDI score, along with the nation’s general respect for foreign beliefs and authority, will indicate why American media is always pushing for a sensational story. A native of South Korea – a nation with a high PDI score – would respect the media authority, even if they’re invading his privacy. That could be why Chan Ho Park complied with their questions and revealed just what Americans would consider TMI – too much info.
But that’s nothing compared with flaming plane wrecks
Further study of Southwick’s article illustrates the Chan Ho Park diarrhea dynamic, but on a much more serious scale. In the ‘90s, fatal accidents happened in Korean Airline jets. The reason speculated is that rather than questioning the clarity of English language instructions from air traffic control towers and possibly appearing as though they were questioning authority, the Korean pilots remained silent and misunderstood. ”Chan Ho Park diarrhea” is hardly a “Koreagate” when compared with life lost, right?
Sources
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 could be deemed life-and-death matter.(COMMENTARY)-a0191821762
