While laughter is probably the initial reaction of Americans to New York Yankees pitcher Chan Ho Park’s diarrhea comment, the incident, in reality, reflects a cultural divide between The US and South Korea. Sports media in The United States – 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." Credit repair is surely needed after all of those labels are affixed. Yet South Korean culture dictates that citizens and athletes in general place high value on such concepts as che-myun (“saving face”) and kongson (“politeness”) . When explaining why he had pitched so ineffectively in his appearances previous to the legendary April 7 “Chan Ho Park diarrhea” video, Park probably wanted to establish common ground with American repor! ters, be cooperative, and set up the big picture for his sting of poor pitching.
Chan Ho Park and diarrhea – not a unique New York Yankees experience
Back in 1986, if Chan Ho Park had announced diarrhea to the New York Media, they’d have told him to come up with an original excuse. Back then, the New York spotlight caused Yankee pitcher Ed Whitson to literally get gastro-intestinal distress. Chan Ho Park has experienced this same thing easily addressed with payday installment loans if his salary were tied up with investments at the moment. Although in The United States diarrhea may be funny, South Koreans don't typically share that very same sense of humor. It is also culturally taboo not to cooperate with authority figures as stated above (media being less scorned in Asian countries such as South Korea than they’re in America. If you watch the video it is clear that Chan Ho Park was just being honest and is confused by why every person thought the comment was so funny. Either that or he has a fantastic 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. 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 is probably why Chan Ho Park answered questions and gave Americans what they would consider TMI – too much information.
But that’s nothing compared with flaming plane wrecks
More studying of Southwick's article will show the Chan Ho Park diarrhea dynamic on a very much more severe scale. In the 1990s, Korean Airlines jets got into fatal accidents. 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?
Resources
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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