Is it right if you are uncaring about people with whom you cannot form an emotional bond?

[Matthew T]

It's easier to be caring and compassionate about people with whom you can form an emotional bond of sympathy or empathy but is it right? Should your compassion be dependent upon your emotions or feelings. The question is not "does it?" but rather "should it?"
How about justice? Should our giving or withholding of justice depend upon our ability to form an emotional bond?

[Cobalt]

It is perfectly fine. One needn't have compassion at all. Quite.

[harpertara]

We should care about and for ALL people, whether or not we can form an 'emotional bond' with them. What is that anyway? All people deserve dignity, and to be considered of worth. Compassion may start with emotion, but truly universally compassionate people go beyond that and accept the idea of oneness with others both mentally and emotionally.

[Ephraim]

No you should be caring to all. Just because you don't know a person doesn't make them any less human. They have thoughts, hopes and dreams just like the people you love. Be kind to everyone whether good or bad because God is kind to the good and the bad. After all many evil men he allows to live giving them chance after chance to change their ways.

[LIVE LAUGH LOVE]

Kindness 'should be' practiced as a principle; not based upon affections or feelings, but choice. Hence: Love your enemies and do good to those who spitefully use you.

[Alfred]

No, I think that's just human nature.

[Rebecca]

No, objectively we should care about everyone equally. Or should we? In fact the way we work now is quite effective - Sam Harris talks about this in The Moral Landscape. Society functions better as a whole if everyone is devoted first and foremost to their children and close kin and then others - if everyone cared as much about complete strangers as they did their own kids, kids would probably be less psychologically well balanced - they need complete focus for many years. Equally, family bonds, friendship bonds, neighbourhood bonds and national bonds etc help us to help each other - communities do work well for social mammals. The other side of this bonding we have evolved with is of course the tribalism and territorialism which leads to the dehumanising of others and things like war, racism, imperialism. I think the way we are going now is a good way. We are so much less racist and class conscious and imperialistic than we were 100 or even 50 years ago. I put this down to TV, cheap travel and media - there is much less 'us' and 'them' when you can see the starving children and war torn towns and empathise with them. The world is getting smaller and 'tribes' are getting bigger. We could well become one big race if religious and territorial disputes could be settled. We could help this along a bit more.