I don’t trust social media – I think it’s all a bunch of bullshit. I think it’s a manoeuvre. It’s Orwellian. This small screen is going to hypnotise you. You’re going to do what it wants you to do. What does it want you to do? It wants you to text your friend. What are you saying to your friend? You’re going to say: “I’m on the corner!” – and your friend says: “I’m on the other corner!” Is that what you’re saying … is that what you’re thinking? Wait a minute.You don’t even know what you think and what you feel if that’s what you’re doing all day and night.

Besides, all this social media – they’re hooked to transactions in some way and they’re delivering this massive audience – to whom? So I don’t like it and I don’t trust it.

They say: “Oh, the Arab Spring!” Well, the goddamn military took over Egypt anyway in the end. Who says they got a revolution? What revolution? The fucking military went in there like they always have done.

To me, the point is you turn the screen off and listen to yourself and maybe you’ll have an idea. Maybe it might be a good idea, something you can do to help out.

Ry Cooder: ‘Mitt Romney is a dangerous man, a cruel man’ via the Guardian

This is a brilliant interview, wherein the slide-guitar maestro drops knowledge bombs on a range of topics, including Mitt Romney, American presidents, the return of Jim Crow, and er, trees.