What the hell is wrong with people like Zac Stacy?
Something severe.
And if you live with or know anyone like him, report that individual as fast as you can.
Do it now.
If you haven’t watched the video of the former St. Louis Rams and New York Jets running back punching and slamming his ex-girlfriend into a TV at her home in Florida, don’t.
Not unless you want to see what the behavior of a monster in human form looks like or if you want to witness what some women face when men lose their temper and their minds.
There is no excuse, no justification for it.
None.
NFL players, such as Packers receiver Davante Adams, have spoken out against such violence upon seeing the video, which was collected on a home security camera and posted with a report at TMZ.com.
Adams and others have rightly called Stacy and others who do what he did cowards.
The assault is horrific.
It makes you wonder how often violence by men against women happens.
How often it happens without a camera rolling to substantiate such behavior. And if the camera in this case hadn’t caught the assault, would Stacy have walked away from it without proper consequences.
At this writing, he’s being sought by police.
According to statistics collected by the World Health Organization, one in three women globally “have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.”
One in three.
The organization reports further that just short of one-third of women between the ages of 15 and 49 who have been in a relationship say that they have been subjected to some form of violence by their intimate partner.
WHO defines intimate partner violence as “behavior by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors.”
It doesn’t take a trained physician or psychologist to understand the adverse effect, the harm such abuse inflicts on those victims. And the effects the abuse has on children who witness it.
In the case of Stacy, the violence reportedly took place in front of a child.
There have been stories in the past of aggression toward women perpetrated by NFL players and athletes in other sports, both in college and pro leagues. It is a problem in those realms and across all realms.
What can be done about it?
Education and awareness are starts and subsequent willingness to act against it.
There is no qualification in this corner to completely grasp the reasons for or the backgrounds of individuals who are likely to commit such crimes. That will be left to the professionals.
But awareness can be utilized by everyone — those who are victims and those who see abuse happen or in cases where that abuse comes to their attention.
A camera is not always rolling. But violence can and should be reported. Fear and intimidation often come into play, experts say, but which is worse, moving through temporary intimidation to find protection and justice or living further in fearful circumstances that often get progressively worse?
It can be tricky, I get it.
Victims of such behavior need to be helped and healed, not preached at. That’s obvious.
And perpetrators of such violence need to be stopped, via legal punishment or treatment or both.
It makes you want to scream that so many men take out such aggression on women, that it happens as often as it does. Are we a species of barbarians? There are cases where women abuse men, too. Either way, this world can do better than the sad-and-sorry 30 percent of its women having violence acted upon them.
That number is pathetic.
And it’s society’s responsibility to reduce it, to make improvements.
There is something wrong with Zac Stacy and people like him.
They are cowards.
If they are sick in the head, they must be put in the proper place to heal them. If they are past healing, they must be put away from the women they harm or could harm, whether there’s a camera rolling or not.
Follow @GordonMonson