I don't think people are being brutal when they point out a snake is "normal". Many people come on this site with a new snake, see all of the morphs, and then assume that their snake might be a morph as well. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm sure their owners don't like to hear their snake is "just" a normal.
Normals come in many, many different flavors: dark, light, blushing, contrasting colors, busy, reduced, etc. The important thing is whether or not YOU like your snake. I would much rather take a really good looking normal over an ugly morph any day (and I have kept back a few normals from my clutches I thought were nice looking).