"yet the physical restraint of a child, with no qualifiers for duration, severity, or method, is seen as a positive thing by the lack of negative comments made about it."

Are you guys all part of some "misrepresent the facts" club?

One person mentioned holds in reference to working in a psych ward, and that they were used to restarain patients from haming other or themselves. One would hope they were trained how to do that, but unless you have information to suggest the people at the facility in question were abusing patients, it's all pointless speculation on your part.

I mentioned holding in reference to stopping children from doing something like running into a street.

Yes it is possible t hurt a child doing that. My brother accidentally dislocated my sister's shoulder roughousing with her when they were little. However you'll not I mentioned holding as a way to remove from danger not as a method of disciplining the child for running into the street. I specifically suggested verbal and body language cuews would let the child know the parent was dismayed.

"If there is no difference between smacking a child on the hand when they reach for the sharp knife by the blade, and beating them around the head"

I never made the claim they were same, in fact I stated they were different several times, what I said was both were wrong. Just like stealing your neigbors purse when she's not looking is not as bad as a home invasion...however both are still wrong.

"then there should be no difference between keeping a child in a properly belted booster seat in the car, and keeping them tied to their cot all day"

Yes actually there is a rather large difference. Booster seats protect the child in case of an accident while you are driving, it is not a disciplinary measure. If you know of anyone locking their kid in a car to discipline them I hope you report them immediately.

"forcibly restraining a child can be seen as such abuse."

I would agree that forcibly restraining a chld can be abusive. That said if you're talking about a situation where a kid is runing into the road I'd rather see a person grab the kid to safet than spank the kid to safety. Of course he wasn't really talking about spanking as a way to keep the kid from danger, he was talking about it as something to do afterward to punish the child for running into the street, and that is a pretty critical point to consider.

"Nor is to simply see the world in black and white,"

Not ebverything is black and white some things are. Using physical violence to coerce a person to conform to your wishes is always wrong imo.