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Originally I intend this post to be a reply in the Chapter 48 discussion thread, with regards to Mikasa and her ideals with Eren. But then I realise this is actually quite a "controversial" topic in life, and a very important recurring theme in SnK.
I'll start by explaining for Mikasa from my standpoint.
Mikasa's perfectly fine as she is, as a character. Any negative comments about her actions are simply because you guys have different values to her. Selfish, literally, yes she is. If I were anyone else in the SnK world, I'd come to dislike her as well, but not because of her sticking to her priorities (or being stubborn if you like,) but because her priorities do not fit my own agenda - that is, my ideal world, which is reflected as being uncaring. Some people's ideal world is to see all the Titans dead, some like Mikasa don't give a shit about things not important to her, as long as she is with someone who quite literally means the world to her.
When you hate someone being stubborn, you actually hate the difficulty in making them do things your way as a result of having different values between the two of you. Doesn't necessarily mean they aren't able to see it your way, but they just choose not to act as such. Whether it's a trust issue or contrasting beliefs/priorities, that depends on the situation, and I don't intend to dive too deeply into this.
Personally, if I were someone like Mikasa, I would also be unreasonable (under general consensus) in trying to save the person I love. Who is to say 100 lives are greater than 1 life? To me, those 100 lives wouldn't be able to replace that 1 important life. The question that remains is, whether I can live with myself seeing the 100 dead, or seeing the 1 dead, as a result of my decision. And though I may have sympathy for the 100 dead (whether they or their families need it or not,) I accept my responsibility that results in 100 dead, because that is also the same responsibility that sees 1 person survive. If anything, Mikasa is solid on her belief and decisions, without all that wishy-washy indecisiveness that arises from some self-imposed guilt (which most people blame as their conscience.) Mikasa has none of that as of yet; her conscience is the thing that won't forgive her if she chose anybody's lives over Eren's.
However, if I were a commander like Erwin (a position that is responsible for the trust of your troops in you, assuming they are all in it to save humankind) then I might consider otherwise. Erwin's position is something like: Your troops (and other people) trust in you for your supposed responsibility over the survival of humankind, a desire your troops 'supposedly' have. You are responsible for your way of life, and this particular position is the responsibility Erwin has assumed as part of his way of life. Though Mikasa is by name a soldier, her motivation is completely different. A lie to the Law, yes. Honesty to her existence, yes.
If you believe your abilities are a gift, then you have the responsibility to use whatever you've been blessed in as a blessing to those around you: You've been blessed to bless others. For those who know, I think this is also Ben Parker's (Spider-Man's uncle's) belief. For someone like Mikasa, she never considers her superiority as a responsibility tasked by "the law of nature," but rather a capacity she gains through her desire to protect Eren. She has every "right" to choose her priorities (though I don't like the word "right" in its usual meaning. I want to describe Mikasa's "right" as a self-sustaining justification that does not require acknowledgement from any external party.)
Not sorry for the long fanboy post, lol. I'm more of an Annie fan myself anyway. And to be honest, I doubt Eren himself agrees with her values either.
Moving away from Mikasa now. I think SnK really hides a lot of messages with regards to issues to do with responsibility, and acceptance by the majority due to your beliefs, and all that sort.
As mentioned above, Commander Erwin's position probably supports his beliefs, in that he wishes to guide humanity to victory through trust. His hands are blood-soaked red, and there we have Armin explaining he has chosen the lives of all those within the Walls over the 100 soldiers under his command, all for the common cause. And just like any others, his belief (hence methods) is questioned. This concerns acceptance by the majority due to your beliefs.
We also have Hange and co. questioning the Cult guy (Pastor Nick,) "What is that something more important than humanity you try to protect?" They recognise that Nick has a belief that he support with all he has. For all that has been revealed until now, his belief is not accepted by the majority. He has chosen to keep a secret than to save the immediate community before our eyes. Using my example above, during his confrontation with Hange, Nick has chosen to die along with 1000* immediate dead before his eyes, than to live exposing their secrets. His sympathy later on gives Hange and co. a compromise, but ultimately accepting responsibility for 1000 immediate dead, because that is also the same responsibility for his belief in keeping the secret. (The "responsibility" he pushes away to Historia is the responsibility for sympathy towards the victims. Meaning, he knows he isn't so single-minded as to not give in to the suffering right before his eyes, and does not wish his emotions to cloud any judgement concerning his beliefs.)
(*Not really 1000, but you know what I mean.)
In Chapter 48, Bert has expressed his belief: "Someone's got to do it." This results in action motivated by his responsibility (infiltration.) This isn't just any simple responsibility either. Bert has very clear beliefs and he assumes responsibilities for those beliefs. In this dialogue, he might sound like he doesn't want to do it, but that's because he understands this is a tough and painful road ahead. He is afraid. And yet he still chooses to do it, because it's something that has to be done, as he implies. This concerns acceptance by the majority due to your beliefs. He fully understands the majority will not accept such methods on the surface.
On the other hand, Ymir resembles Mikasa in the way that their belief concerns 1 specific person who means the world to them. They are also similar in the fact that they so obviously couldn't care less about what the majority thinks of them in striving for their ideals. Nonetheless, as she also admits, Ymir's desire in a way is more recognisably selfish in nature. In a very heart-warming manner, Ymir is informed of Historia's supportive stance and if there were any descriptions that could suggest stronger than "it means the world to her," I would use that. ("It means worlds to her, plural?" lol.) Her responsibility is very personal. That is, she wishes to see Historia not going down the same path as her (discarding their original identity,) while wanting to build an absolute bond (relationship) with her.
As of yet, we still don't know for what cause some of them are fighting, but we know that Erwin, Bert, Mikasa, Ymir, and Nick, all of them are staking everything they have to fight for their beliefs: going pass their comfort zone, misunderstandings from the people important to you, risking reputations and many lives, including their own, things that mean the world to them, whether that "world" is 1 person or 100000 people... Their lives are a direct responsibility to their beliefs. Some of those responsibilities concern 1 person, some, 100000 people. While fully aware of the consequences of their actions, including the not-so-accepted decisions, they are at the very least firm in their beliefs.
Hope that vaguely makes sense. Gonna stop developing some points for now and give space for discussion below :P
I'll start by explaining for Mikasa from my standpoint.
Mikasa's perfectly fine as she is, as a character. Any negative comments about her actions are simply because you guys have different values to her. Selfish, literally, yes she is. If I were anyone else in the SnK world, I'd come to dislike her as well, but not because of her sticking to her priorities (or being stubborn if you like,) but because her priorities do not fit my own agenda - that is, my ideal world, which is reflected as being uncaring. Some people's ideal world is to see all the Titans dead, some like Mikasa don't give a shit about things not important to her, as long as she is with someone who quite literally means the world to her.
When you hate someone being stubborn, you actually hate the difficulty in making them do things your way as a result of having different values between the two of you. Doesn't necessarily mean they aren't able to see it your way, but they just choose not to act as such. Whether it's a trust issue or contrasting beliefs/priorities, that depends on the situation, and I don't intend to dive too deeply into this.
Personally, if I were someone like Mikasa, I would also be unreasonable (under general consensus) in trying to save the person I love. Who is to say 100 lives are greater than 1 life? To me, those 100 lives wouldn't be able to replace that 1 important life. The question that remains is, whether I can live with myself seeing the 100 dead, or seeing the 1 dead, as a result of my decision. And though I may have sympathy for the 100 dead (whether they or their families need it or not,) I accept my responsibility that results in 100 dead, because that is also the same responsibility that sees 1 person survive. If anything, Mikasa is solid on her belief and decisions, without all that wishy-washy indecisiveness that arises from some self-imposed guilt (which most people blame as their conscience.) Mikasa has none of that as of yet; her conscience is the thing that won't forgive her if she chose anybody's lives over Eren's.
However, if I were a commander like Erwin (a position that is responsible for the trust of your troops in you, assuming they are all in it to save humankind) then I might consider otherwise. Erwin's position is something like: Your troops (and other people) trust in you for your supposed responsibility over the survival of humankind, a desire your troops 'supposedly' have. You are responsible for your way of life, and this particular position is the responsibility Erwin has assumed as part of his way of life. Though Mikasa is by name a soldier, her motivation is completely different. A lie to the Law, yes. Honesty to her existence, yes.
If you believe your abilities are a gift, then you have the responsibility to use whatever you've been blessed in as a blessing to those around you: You've been blessed to bless others. For those who know, I think this is also Ben Parker's (Spider-Man's uncle's) belief. For someone like Mikasa, she never considers her superiority as a responsibility tasked by "the law of nature," but rather a capacity she gains through her desire to protect Eren. She has every "right" to choose her priorities (though I don't like the word "right" in its usual meaning. I want to describe Mikasa's "right" as a self-sustaining justification that does not require acknowledgement from any external party.)
Not sorry for the long fanboy post, lol. I'm more of an Annie fan myself anyway. And to be honest, I doubt Eren himself agrees with her values either.
Moving away from Mikasa now. I think SnK really hides a lot of messages with regards to issues to do with responsibility, and acceptance by the majority due to your beliefs, and all that sort.
As mentioned above, Commander Erwin's position probably supports his beliefs, in that he wishes to guide humanity to victory through trust. His hands are blood-soaked red, and there we have Armin explaining he has chosen the lives of all those within the Walls over the 100 soldiers under his command, all for the common cause. And just like any others, his belief (hence methods) is questioned. This concerns acceptance by the majority due to your beliefs.
We also have Hange and co. questioning the Cult guy (Pastor Nick,) "What is that something more important than humanity you try to protect?" They recognise that Nick has a belief that he support with all he has. For all that has been revealed until now, his belief is not accepted by the majority. He has chosen to keep a secret than to save the immediate community before our eyes. Using my example above, during his confrontation with Hange, Nick has chosen to die along with 1000* immediate dead before his eyes, than to live exposing their secrets. His sympathy later on gives Hange and co. a compromise, but ultimately accepting responsibility for 1000 immediate dead, because that is also the same responsibility for his belief in keeping the secret. (The "responsibility" he pushes away to Historia is the responsibility for sympathy towards the victims. Meaning, he knows he isn't so single-minded as to not give in to the suffering right before his eyes, and does not wish his emotions to cloud any judgement concerning his beliefs.)
(*Not really 1000, but you know what I mean.)
In Chapter 48, Bert has expressed his belief: "Someone's got to do it." This results in action motivated by his responsibility (infiltration.) This isn't just any simple responsibility either. Bert has very clear beliefs and he assumes responsibilities for those beliefs. In this dialogue, he might sound like he doesn't want to do it, but that's because he understands this is a tough and painful road ahead. He is afraid. And yet he still chooses to do it, because it's something that has to be done, as he implies. This concerns acceptance by the majority due to your beliefs. He fully understands the majority will not accept such methods on the surface.
On the other hand, Ymir resembles Mikasa in the way that their belief concerns 1 specific person who means the world to them. They are also similar in the fact that they so obviously couldn't care less about what the majority thinks of them in striving for their ideals. Nonetheless, as she also admits, Ymir's desire in a way is more recognisably selfish in nature. In a very heart-warming manner, Ymir is informed of Historia's supportive stance and if there were any descriptions that could suggest stronger than "it means the world to her," I would use that. ("It means worlds to her, plural?" lol.) Her responsibility is very personal. That is, she wishes to see Historia not going down the same path as her (discarding their original identity,) while wanting to build an absolute bond (relationship) with her.
As of yet, we still don't know for what cause some of them are fighting, but we know that Erwin, Bert, Mikasa, Ymir, and Nick, all of them are staking everything they have to fight for their beliefs: going pass their comfort zone, misunderstandings from the people important to you, risking reputations and many lives, including their own, things that mean the world to them, whether that "world" is 1 person or 100000 people... Their lives are a direct responsibility to their beliefs. Some of those responsibilities concern 1 person, some, 100000 people. While fully aware of the consequences of their actions, including the not-so-accepted decisions, they are at the very least firm in their beliefs.
Hope that vaguely makes sense. Gonna stop developing some points for now and give space for discussion below :P
. I don't hate Mikasa but you said yourself you would act like if if you werehere. Of course you'll do that. Like I said in the Mikasa thread she is not fit to be a soldier. Only Eren counts in her life. What she did in the last chapter wasn't that bad because she could have immediately killed them( I wouldn't blame her because they are enemies actually). But I think it was pretty insensitive to say things like " There is a limit to the lives that I can care about". All her teammates are here to save Eren, not only her. Mikasa is not really heroic, she is neutral. As long as you want to keep Eren alive she will "care about" you but if you threaten him, you are an enemy. This chapter made it pretty clear. Saying "they are a plague upon mankind" is just an excuse. 
