While the first response of many Americans to New York Yankees pitcher Chan Ho Park’s diarrhea comment will without doubt be laughter, the reality is the incident reflects a cultural divide between South Korea and America. Sports media in America approach players aggressively – especially in New York. If players don't "play ball" and submit to all of their questions, they’re labeled as "clubhouse cancer" or "malcontent." After those labels are affixed, credit repair is needed. Yet South Korean culture requires that all of the athletes and citizens place a 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 establish 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
In 1986, Chan Ho Park announcing diarrhea as an excuse to the New York Media would have gotten him told to come up with a better excuse. You see, Yankees pitcher Ed Whitson was already feeling the heat of the New York spotlight back then, and it literally caused him 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 cheap payday loans. Yes, diarrhea might be funny to Americans, but South Koreans do not necessarily share the 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 are in America. 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 an excellent 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 media seems to always push for a sensational story because of the low American PDI score as well as the general lack of respect for foreign beliefs and authority. Whether or not the media is invading his privacy, a native of South Korea due to their high PDI score would respect the media authority. That could possibly be why Chan Ho Park complied with their questions and revealed what Americans would consider TMI – too much information.
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 severe scale. Korean Airline jets got into many fatal accidents within the 1990s. The reason speculated is that instead of 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” isn't a “Koreagate” when compared with loss of life, 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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