I don’t think ‘normie’ is necessarily a bad thing. I consider myself a ‘normie’ in fields I don’t know much about.

Hence, I’ll have the ‘normal’ and/or the majority average opinion on that thing (however, I am smart enough to know that opinion is often likely wrong or missing nuance).

Folks that have normalized & don’t ask questions about the dollar monetary system can fairly be called ‘normies’ as it pertains to that situation.

All IMHO though. I too have been considering the rudeness of the labels ‘normie’ & ‘npc’. I do think ‘npc’ is rude now.