Comment by aidenn0

I don't read that sentence to mean what you do. The article is indeed "looking at the forces generated by the flow of air around the aircraft's wings" and it's definitely focusing "on the cross section of those wings" which is a shape known as an "airfoil."

Later on TFA says "the shape and the orientation of the airfoil helps airplanes remain airborne" which is closer to your criticism, but still true; a shape that generates more drag or less lift in the equivalent airflow would not help airplanes remain airborne.

Maybe if TFA included a simulation of a rectilinear wing and showed how it stalled at very low angles of attack, that would improve things, but I find it to be "just fine" as an introduction to lift.