Drinking on Purim (and other holidays) - What do you think?

Inspired by: http://frumsatire.net/2009/03/13/are-you-anti-drinking-on-purim

The author of the above article argues that being anti-drinking on Purim, the Jewish equivalent of Mardi Gras (in terms of revelry) is something that divides traditional and non-traditional Jews, with non-Orthodox and secular Jews being in the anti-drinking camp.

You see, it is considered a mitzvah (good deed) to drink until you cannot distinguish between "bless Mordechai" and "curse Haman," although you aren't allowed to drink to the point where you would break religious law or harm others, which seems like a dangerously fine line.

Coming from a mostly conservative Protestant family in which most people either don't drink at all or only drink one glass of wine about once or twice a month, the mitzvah to get drunk on a religious holiday seemed both foreign and, to some degree, questionable.

The idea behind the mitzvah of Purim drinking, in addition to drinking wine on the Sabbath and during the Passover seder is supposed to be that wine is a symbol of joy, and that drinking it adds to the joy of the holiday. However, I can't enjoy a holiday meal with people who take the wine drinking thing very seriously. After a while people start acting silly and you can't be sure if anything they're saying is really them or the booze. One drink is enough for me anyway — anymore and I feel dizzy and then sleepy — so I guess I won't be hosting any big Purim parties.

Good shabbos!