No thank-you.
“Tit for tat” is unethical always—almost. Few ethics rules are absolute, and this isn’t one of them Sometimes tit for tat, that is, doing something unethical to someone who has done the same unethical act to you or someone else, can be justifiable, if it causes no real harm, and does some good as well. Spreading the rumor that Harry Reid is a pederast because he falsely suggested that Mitt Romney was a tax evader doesn’t qualify. But Mark Cuban offering to donate $1 million to charity if Donald Trump shaves what is allegedly the hair on his head?
Perfect.
You see, Trump is a billionaire who uses his money to bully and extort others. That was his game when he made his despicable offer to President Obama, saying he would give five million to a designated charity in exchange for the President releasing personal records of his grades and his birth. Trump’s miserable intent was to create an impression that Obama had something to hide when he rejected the offer, as any responsible person would. When the President appropriately ignored him, Trump had the gall to accuse Obama of robbing the needy of five million bucks, when in fact it is Trump’s money, and he could give it to charity any time he chooses. Instead, he tried to use the money to embarrass the President of the United States and bend him to Trump’s will.
Now Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, another flamboyant billionaire, is giving The Donald a dose of his own bitter medicine. During an interview with Fox 4 News in Dallas, Cuban looked directly at the camera and said, “Donald, you shave your head, [and]$1 million to any charity you want!” In one gesture, Cuban illustrated the obnoxious character of Trump’s challenge, the offensiveness of rich people using their wallets as weapons of coercion, and the childishness of such an exercise. Yet Trump is only exposed for what he is by this tit for tat; that’s the only harm, and it is well-earned. He won’t take the bait, and frankly, nobody wants him to: I certainly don’t want to see what’s under that orange squirrel’s nest he wears on his head. The benefit of Cuban’s offer is that it appropriately embarrasses Donald Trump, almost as much as Trump’s own offer did.
Well played indeed.
Ethics Alarms 
Yeah. I think that’s right in sum.
It’s a sad commentary that it takes a nominally unethical act to properly expose a much worse one. At the same time, it is entirely fitting that our inability to deal with vast wealth, and the power and attention that results from it, is so clearly exposed by both these men.
Cuban gets the better of the exchange, no doubt, but it is an empty victory. His willingness to manipulate the media in the same way Trump did is nothing to be proud of. He could have, for example, donated one million dollars to a good cause in honor of Trump’s idiocy, and that would have been both an impressive display of generosity that he could afford (Cuban is much wealthier than Trump), and a rebuke of Trump’s transparently nonsensical and unfair offer that would have resonated. No, he had no obligation to do that, but this was the perfect opportunity for him to expose Trump by doing what “The Donald” never really intended to do.
Unfortunately, Cuban chose the cheap, low road. A net win, perhaps, but nothing to praise, in my view.
Agreed.
I came thiiis close to writing that Cuban now should donate the million anyway, but if he makes that part of the offer, he really isn’t making Trump deal with the same unfair offer Trump pulled on Obama.
Cuban is a good bet to be the new Trump, They deserve each other.
I preferred Colbert’s spin on it. A tad more offensive? Sure. But I think only Colbert’s sarcastic imitation of the Donald can really show how stupid the stunt was.
A tad more? The problem with Colbert’s stunt is that the Donald can easily dismiss it as offensive. When Cuban, a member of the .00001% club, calls him out with a challenge that over 50,000 people have already stepped up to this year (www.stbaldricks.org), it has a great ring. If Cuban follows up with some generosity in spite of Trump – Ethics Hero time.
In keeping with his ongoing quest for publicity, I am surprised that The Donald has not jumped on this with both feet. Hair grows back as an earlier poster noted with a reference to St. Baldrick’s (and the reception station at Ft Ord did for me in 1967), so The Donald calls Cuban’s bluff and, taking a couple days to draw a crowd, shears his locks and designates the non-government relief agencies working the Sandy clean-up as his charity…. and then doubles down by adding a million of his own, and yet another if Cuban goes under the scissors…
They all get their egos boosted and show off their wealth, and some good comes out of it for people in need.
The Donald shaving his head would cause him to have to admit to his comb forward. Either that, or not go out in public for a year. Ain’t gonna happen.
But we can dream, can’t we…
Stupid, stupid.