This is an excellent description - a constant undertow of primitivism.
I wrestle with this because I have young kids. I like to believe that having kids is an act of hope: I believe that I am bringing them into a world that will be better than the one I grew up in, which was marred by race riots, bigotry, poverty, hatred...
But sometimes it seems more like a rearguard action. They're like stakes in the ground to protect some territory from creeping darkness. Not something I feel good about.