Well, I’ve survived another X Factor season, despite it being the worst ever regurgitation of the same old manufactured pap. I’ve been held captive by my wife’s dominance of the remote control for four excruciating months.

But thanks to social media, I find that I’m not alone.

I hate every nauseating minute of the show. From the insipid voice over to the hackneyed ‘old spice’ music, through the endless regurgitation of clichés, that make footballers sound intelligent, right up to the gurn inducing, blart infested melodrama that is the vote.

Yes it has been a “journey” for me too Dermot.

The only way to get through it, is to follow the xfactor hash tag on Twitter for reassuringly clever sarcasm about the minute by minute happenings on the show.

(For the uninitiated – people label their tweets with a # label in order that it can be found by people like me!)

Yes there are lots of ‘Go Joe’ tweets from the mindless, but interspersed with them and the blatant advertising tweets, are funny and intelligent observations, far more entertaining than those of the bland judges.

But then I discovered the #ratm4xmas tag and found my kindred X Factor hating spirits, who are saying “no” to the cult of Simon Cowell.

The tag led me to, what is currently the most popular discussion group on Facebook,  ‘RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE FOR CHRISTMAS NO.1’ .

The idea is that by synchronized online purchases of a track called ‘Killing in the Name’ by the rather appropriately named band, ‘Rage Against the Machine’ – we can knock X Factor off the Xmas number one slot.

I’ll let others explain why X Factor is a cancer on the music industry and as I work ‘in marketing’, I’m in no position to point out the immorality of playing on the aspirations of the nations susceptible no-hopers to be rich and famous or indeed laughing at the mentally ill in the auditions.

The important thing is that, instead of shouting at the TV, I can now use social media to vent my frustration! In fact, I’m feeling much better already – proving the cathartic nature of blogging and its power to spread the word of resistance against the Karaoke King.

I don’t suppose the 20 million lemmings that like the X Factor can be beaten, and I know few of them are likely to buy ‘Killing in the Name’ for the Nan’s xmas present, but it will be fun to try.