Gellner held that truth is independent of political virtue.

Evidence

Gellner went on to denounce Said’s misreadings of Gide, Camus, Fanon and others, before ending his review with these words: ‘Truth is not linked to political virtue (either directly or inversely). To insinuate the opposite is to be guilty of that sin which Said wishes to denounce. Like the rain, truth falls on both the just and the unjust. The problems of power and culture, and their turbulent relations during the great metamorphosis of our social world, is too important to be left to lit crit.’ — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 548

Categorization

• XREF: Gellner’s ‘truth falls on both the just and the unjust’ directly rebuts the Said claim that knowledge always reflects power, already noted at location 546.
• CANDY: ‘Like the rain, truth falls on both the just and the unjust… too important to be left to lit crit’ is a quotable zinger.