I'm seeing parallels between what the newspapers of the 1920s were reporting and Gramps49s OP. For example, the decline in institutional trust post-war seems to have been seen as a portent of a new Dark Age in the 1920s, and is seen as such by Gramps49 now.
Rather than argue about earlier "Dark Ages", let's discuss what may currently and imminently be happening.
As @North East Quine suggests, looking at earlier predictions of “Dark Ages” might inform discussion of what’s happening now and what we think might happen. At the least, it seems to me, they might counsel some caution as to human track records on accurately predicting what will come.
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Not so much for all the people and cultures destroyed by those who believed they were superior, though.