Marcos Llorente can already roast in the sun

On Tuesday evening, Pablo Motos interviewed footballer Marcos Llorente, who is promoting his book on health. It is a publication with a zen aesthetic, as if it were a select edition by a famous artist. Llorente, beyond being an effective soldier for Simeone at Atlètic de Madrid, has become famous for his extravagant theories about the functioning of the human body and well-being. He promotes glasses with yellow and red lenses for stories about melatonin that the scientific community has rejected. The player gave a pair of glasses to the presenter and the plush ants to spread their use. Motos prodded the footballer to repeat his theories about sun exposure, even though he knew they had provoked the indignation of oncologists and dermatologists. Llorente advised against the use of sunscreens because he claimed that the sun does not harm the skin. He stated that it had not been proven that sun exposure over the years could cause cancer. The argument was delirious: “¿And how do they measure this?”, he asked. And he insisted that it was impossible to know if a skin cancer was a result of the sun or any other unhealthy habit. Obviously, Pablo Motos did not know how to refute him, because he does not have the knowledge to do so and had not even prepared himself. Therefore, in prime time and for a family audience, a leading program once again gave space and voice to a denier with esoteric theses, selling them as healthy advice.Llorente is perceived, by a large part of the spectators, as an aspirational and authoritative figure. It is pathetic, but it is so. Successful characters with great purchasing power who consider themselves references or examples to follow. Television often plays at the equidistant farce of “all opinions are respectable”, but some are not because they attack public health. On scientific matters, not all opinions are respectable. The approach of “it cannot be proven” or “how do they know?” in a context without any expert is a trap. It serves the charlatan to feign rational skepticism, a kind of critical thinking, when in reality he takes advantage of the absence of authority to sow doubt without having to provide any proof. He uses doubt to discredit medical evidence when there is no one in front of him who can explain it from science. On the other hand, no one asks Llorente to be the one to prove his theories. He is content to defend them with arrogance, giving wellness advice for the rich with idle lives: “You have to expose yourself to the sun progressively from dawn”, says the clever one.Audiovisual media reward dissent because it generates virality, controversy, and so-called engagement. This is why this worrying obsession with giving space to deniers. For Motos, sun exposure and creams are of no importance. He wants the digital world to highlight the nonsense the next day, without considering that it is of great social irresponsibility. In any case, in private, Llorente and all those who flatter him can roast themselves in the sun as much as they want. On with their convictions.