only a soft ass normie would take normie as an insult

An insult depending on the context like most things,the argument you made about it was ridiculous imo as the OP that used that word didnt mean to use it in an insulting way.

It is just like a young person dismissing an older person's opinion with the line, Ok Boomer! People need to toughen up and get over it. 

In the context that this word is usually used, I would say yes, it is an insult.

I just call him Norman. I don't know him well enough to give him a nickname.

But really, depending on the circumstances, anything can be an insult.

Guy 1: "I love pizza."
Guy 2: "Yeah. That's what I'd expect from an AMERICAN!"

All of a sudden you're insulted because you were called exactly what you are.

Zombie Apocalypse:
"Are you a cannibal?"
"No, I'm a normie!"

It's all context you goddam burger sniffer.

Never heard anyone say it so I dunno.

It's just a word. The fact that people take that word or any other word as an insult depends entirely on their perspective.

First we need to understand the meaning of this word. A normie (as I understand it) is a person whose life, beliefs and philosophies are within the norm. The norm is what the majority of people in society agree upon as being what is ok, acceptable and even desirable. Nothing more and nothing less.

But we live in a time when rejecting the norm has become the cool thing to do and thus saying you are not part of the norm becomes desirable and in this context being called a normie could be perceived as an insult. Unfortunately most people who believe they are not part of the norm actually are totally part of it. They are part of a culture that wants to define itself as being outside the norm but they still behave within society's parameters and thus are totally part of the norm. Yet I don't think this would qualify as an insult.

I am the farthest away from being a normie as it is possible to be but does that mean I should feel insulted? Of course not, I would simply debunk it as being absurd. I would reply something like this: Really, I am a normie? In what universe a detached free thinker rejecting all norms of society beyond what I can even talk about in this forum, like me is part of the norm? It's as if you'd call a thin person fat or a tall person a midget etc.

From my perspective you are all normies as your deviations from the norms appear to me as still being the norm or if not, still so close to the norm that it doesn't really strike me as really different from it.

I wouldn’t be insulted by that. Because non normies tend to live a lower standard of lifestyle because it’s “different”.

There are words created specifically as insults, a word such as idiot, can only be taken as an insult. There are words that are created for the sole purpose of being insults. Whether someone takes insult at being called something is irrelevant.