Porn addiction?
No not me, but rather somebody else.
Before we get into it, there is one other word needed here to set a bit of context. That word is “Astroturfing”. That’s because this is the rather astonishing reveal behind this story. The word “Grassroots”, as in the term a “Grassroots Campaign” refers to real people initiating some action. “Astroturfing” is when something has been manufactured to look like it is a grassroots initiative that was started by concerned citizens, but was in fact orchestrated by some entity or organization that seeks to deliberately manipulate you.
oooooh, this sounds both juicy and interesting, and trust me it is indeed a wild ride, so read on if curious.
OK, no more spoilers, let’s dive directly into our sordid little saga.
Books
On Nov 14, 20 year old Lanah Burkhardt stood in front of the Conroe Independent School District school board and confessed to her porn addiction.
Here if a clip of the full School Board meeting …
Her Part is at the 47 Minute and 20 second mark ... (note that she is dressed like a student) …
Here is a transcript of what she said …
Hello, my name is Lana, and being very involved in politics and the education system is the topic that I’m most passionate about and unfortunately it’s become our bit .. uh … political Battlefield.
My story started when I was 11 and was introduced to a single kiss in a Scholastic book. I didn’t understand why I liked it. This was the start of my porn addiction journey. I was then very curious and began exploring it, it only got worse. I looked for other books that gave me pleasure, and it led to internet searches that I will never forget.
I was addicted every night and it was something I immediately regretted, and eventually became depressed about.
When I was 13 years old, I told my mom I wanted to die.
My battle with porn addiction ended seven years ago, and I’ve never told this story to the public. I didn’t even tell my mom until I was 18 years old.
I’m only telling you this today because there are way too many stories which are much worse. I don’t want Conroe ISD students to repeat what I went through because they accidentally ran Upon A Scholastic book or another book that could lead them down this road, which Drama [The name of a Scholastic book she claims turned her into a porn addict – to be specific this one] is one of them.
This isn’t about banning books, this is about sexual obscenity. I wasn’t exposed to this level of sexual material, but I was already captured by a single kiss.
Getting rid of Scholastic books and their Book Fairs will inevitably protect kids, but it’s your decision, what do you want to do, where do you want history to go down, do you want kids to be exposed to this kind of material, because I was and I don’t want any other kids to.
It’s not about banning books, I promise you that. It’s about protecting the children.
Some children are old enough to make a decision for themselves, but some aren’t. Some grew up in completely stable homes, and some unfortunately didn’t, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about LGBTQ kids, it’s not about protecting them. It’s about what kids, every kid, whether they’re LGBTQ or not is exposed to.
Thank You.
(She gets a round of applause)
Right after her, Riley Lee is then up. She is President of Sky Tree Book Fairs. She proceeds to heavily criticise Scholastic Book Fairs.
As president of Sky Book Fairs she very obviously does have a specific motivation to piss all over Scholastic books.
What really happened here?
The above pitch by Lanah Burkhardt, who claims that a Scholastic book with a single kiss in it led to her having a porn addiction, was in fact sponsored by Sky Tree Book Fairs.
They are a right-wing religiously motivated group that is championed by Kirk Cameron as … “an alternative to the sexually explicit content distributed in Scholastic’s book fairs.”, which in reality is simply the rebranding of the right-wing Brave Books resurrected and whitewashed …
The president of SkyTree Book Fairs, Riley Lee, was listed as an “Executive Assistant” at Brave Books earlier this year. (Lee has omitted her employment at Brave Books from her LinkedIn profile.) A website, stop scholastic.com, which previously redirected to a page promoting book fairs by Brave Books, now redirects to SkyTree Books Fairs. An “extensive report” on the dangers of Scholastic, previously offered by Brave Books, is now being distributed by SkyTree Book Fairs.
Why was Lanah Burkhardt really there?
Dig a bit and you will discover a few interesting things about this supposed ex porn addict.
Her “powerful” porn addition story is being promoted by both Brave Books and Sky Tree Book Fairs …
Even Kirk Cameron is singing the praises of … “this BRAVE young lady” …
What exactly supposedly caused her Porn Addiction?
You can find the book here, and even click “see inside”.
Since she was so devastated by a kiss in “Drama”, then let’s check that out.
This is the actual “Kiss” that supposedly led Lanah to a porn addiction …
FFS, the kiss the prince gives at the end of Disney’s 1937 Snow White movie has more passion than that.
The Lanah Burkhardt Reveal
But Lanah Burkhardt is just a kid, why would she ever make up such a story?
Well, let’s take a slightly closer look at her.
So here is the reveal, she is not some poor porn addicted student traumatised by a kiss in a Scholastic book, instead this is her …
Yes, she is indeed an employee of Brave Books and works for them as the Public relations coordinator.
The entire things was all orchestrated cos-play.
This is a prime example of astroturfing.
Further Reading
- Hat tip to Frank Strong who first revealed what was really going on Nov 24 – A Dismal Night for Books in Conroe
- Second hat tip to Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby who grant us even more detail on Nov 29 – Mysterious woman tells school board that Scholastic book sparked porn addiction
- Meanwhile, Hemant Mehta is on Dec 1 writing about how – Kirk Cameron wants schools to ditch Scholastic book fairs for a right-wing alternative … and very obviously that insight also plays into this rather sordid saga of blatant manipulation designed to deceive.