ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly discusses the history of model minority myth scholarship and explains the expanse and limits of model minority discourse. It examines the contemporary media landscape by exploring how discourse about Asian and Asian-American digital and Internet builders and inventors—specifically the creators and founders of YouTube—relies on model minority imagery even when that image does not directly align. The chapter answers the conundrum by considering the development of unforeseen Internet technologies in relation to news media coverage of Asian-American Internet Chief Economic Officers—all while recognizing that model minority discourses existed prior to both and informed society’s understanding of Asian Americans. The news media discourses highlight what we describe as the critical economics of Asian-American Internet executive discourses, which position Asian Americans as entrepreneurs and laborers who contribute to neoliberal systems of self-sufficiency, effectiveness, and capitalist economy. In the backdrop of the story of YouTube are racial and immigrant-like narratives, especially in regards to Steve Chen and Jawed Karim.
