Loyal_3_penny_Q

Ani Difranco said "art imitates life, but life imitates TV." In the case of video games and violence, it is entirely probable that the mental response in the user is a sort of "conditioning." The basic thought process is "if I click with the crosshair cursor centered on that person shape, it will not bar my progress any longer and that means I win." Associating that with actually killing someone seems dubious to me, but endnote 1 makes me wonder. "...racist behaviors can be in place and expressed, even while the subject she is not racist..." Does this suggest that a person can have some violence inherent to them in their subconscious? Video games play heavily on the fight or flight reflex, as do sports, which have existed for much longer.
I think that there are other factors than conditioning and action. Dimebag Darrel, the former lead of Pantera, was shot and killed on stage. He wrote some very violent things when he was in Pantera, yet nothing like what happened to him ever happened. It is worth noting that the man who killed him was a semi-pro football player- a rather violent profession already. I think that no one factor (conditioning, predisposition to violence, environment) alone will lead a person to violence, but a combination of factors could.
Is this just a reactionary slippery slope theory, or is there something to it? Do the news media tip the scale by reinforcing the message "kids who play violent video games know how to kill?"