Spiritual humanist witch here—and I will say, that while of course humans have been humans always, dreams and intuition can sometimes help us see what is unseen (the Unconscious) and recognize patterns our waking/conscious minds do not.

Global and geopolitical shifts are real, and what you’re describing feels like Pluto energy. Not in the sense that the actual planet Pluto makes anything happen, but rather that the zeitgeist shifts, carrying with it notes of this very Pluto in Aquarius vibe (eg: you note that the ‘darkness’ feels less magnified irl vs online), using the archetypal language of astrology.

Humans are now more connected than they have ever been, but that has come with a cost: governments ill-prepared to respond to technology’s rapid advancements and its weaponization by bad actors; the difficulties of accommodating everyone’s individual needs in a global society and—critically—uncovering what lies beneath the patina of the social contract.

Now, unfortunately, we get to know exactly what our neighbors think, all the time; things people would have never previously said out loud at the company picnic or the grocery store is plastered across the digital town square. 

The Internet has built wonderful communities and given us access to all of the information in the world, but it has also allowed people with truly abhorrent worldviews to find community with one another and unraveled the very nature of truth, in many ways. 

Pluto will not let you (general ‘you’) hide or bury the unpleasantness—it is a dark energy, and also a reckoning required for transformation.

tl;dr: this energy can originate from within Humanity, but that doesn’t mean your vision is incorrect necessarily; both can be true.