Christian missionary becomes atheist after trying to convert tribe

[Anomalocaris]

Listen yes, respect, no. People earn respect

Maybe "respect" comes across too strongly. 

I meant something like: not treat them as dummies before we have proof that they're dummies. Just the standard rule of thumb that everybody knows something I don't.

There is no need for any such rule of thump.   You can evaluate what they say they know or clearly think they know and work to determine if they know it or not.


Making that a rule of thumb bespeaks of the sterile tendency to privilege evasion and obscurantism over fact finding.