Yeah, I'm not sure I buy it. At a minimum, the angle of the straight fork would be much steeper than the curved, which would alter the angle of impact, which may or may not have an effect. I'd accept empirical (not subjective) evidence but have not seen any research on the topic.

But even if we accept that the curve adds some shock absorption, you still can't look at two bikes and decide that one will be more comfortable exclusively because one has a curved fork, and the other doesn't.

For a full touring bike, most forks are steel and curved, so it's not an issue. But since the OP is looking at light touring bikes, he's probably looking at stuff like a Specialized Roubaix, which will have a fairly straight CF fork.

As to forks with disc brakes, it's quite plausible that regardless of curvature you need to have a stiffer fork anyway to handle the torsional forces. That said, I have never heard anyone say that "disc brakes are more uncomfortable because you need a straight / stiffer fork...."

So other than aesthetic reasons, I don't think "curve vs straight" is a particularly relevant criteria for selecting a bike.