I've heard from various sources that the average Roman wasn't aware that the Empire was collapsing even while living through it--they just assumed that the Empire would always be there because it always had been. But that doesn't mean that all Romans were ignorant of what was happening: there were complaints about the decline within the Empire and it is my understanding that many Romans even emigrated from the Empire to surrounding barbarian controlled areas to avoid the punitive taxes.
John Wilder's latest piece--"Collapse, You’re Soaking In It"--shows that he is perfectly aware of what is happening, and that we are currently living through the collapse of Western Civilization and, perhaps, even that of the United States. And to illustrate that collapse, he casts his eyes on such diverse topics as the Cloward-Piven Strategy, feminism, unbridled immigration, and the riots in France.
A point to keep in mind is that collapse is rarely instantaneous. In retrospect, Rome's decline took roughly two to three centuries, generally marked by the Third Century Crises as the beginning and ending with the sack of Rome and, a few decades later, the deposing of the last Emperor in the 5th Century. The more dramatic Late Bronze Age Collapse is generally considered to have taken place over a period of 50 years for its acute phase--but while some empires disappeared completely, Egypt continued to limp along and some of the smaller powers actually prospered after the more generalized collapse. The British Empire began its collapse with WWI--over 100 years ago now--and accelerated in the decade after WWII, and appears to still be continuing as we see both separatist movements growing in Scotland and Wales, and the UK being overrun by invaders from the third world. I guess my point by all of this is that even if we are in a general collapse of the West, we must still continue living our lives, for we do not know what course events take and what will be the end.
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