How to pronounce "irritation"

I recently spoke at a university

where a student told me that it was such a shame

that Nigerian men were physical abusers

like the father character in my novel.

I told him that I had just read a novel called "American Psycho" --

(Laughter)

-- and that it was such a shame

that young Americans were serial murderers.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Now, obviously I said this in a fit of mild irritation.

(Laughter)

But it would never have occurred to me to think

that just because I had read a novel in which a character was a serial killer

that he was somehow representative of all Americans.

This is not because I am a better person than that student,

but because of America's cultural and economic power,

I had many stories of America.

I had read Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill.

I did not have a single story of America.

When I learned, some years ago,