I agree absolutely with your analysis John - it's about inappropriate reliance upon ground cues.
Does it affect the modern aviator, well it's happened to me once for exactly that reason, the wind shifted and strengthened when I was practicing circuits and flew the original ground cues whilst practicing circuits and not watching my AoA / IAS enough until I got some buffet and told myself not to be so daft.
That said, I usually fly very slow aircraft, often in winds up to half my cruising speed - so perhaps I'm more likely to see it than somebody doing 85 knots around the circuit in a Tomahawk.
G