Is there a word or concise English expression for the kind of discussion that is heated, perhaps a bit contentious or pretentious, but ultimately off-topic, vague, or too abstract to be useful?
A word-picture that comes to mind are a bunch of stuffy politicians or inexperienced young professionals arguing for argument's sake, to display their knowledge or make their voice heard yet without contributing any value to the discussion at large, or worse, derailing it entirely.
I think the usual way of portraying this is with the phrase 'hot air'; they're not so much talking about anything important as they are just breathing at each other. Example:
The politicans could talk for hours, but all that ever came out was a lot of hot air.
Equal meaning can be derived from the terms idle talk, gas or wind, tall talk or inanity.
Of course those are nouns for describing the actual tone of the dialogue - if you want verbs describing their behaviour you could use babbling, yakking, prattling, ranting; it's all interchangeable really. My favourite for this kind of dialogue would probably be 'blathering', since it gives me the image of some old chap constantly talking without knowing what he's saying.
Hope that helps!
It isn't concise but I like the phrase:
the conversation generated more heat than light
I've always liked the expression, twaddle. In my mind it conjures the image of someone's pompous speech or stuffy writing as being utterly nonsensical, and extremely shallow. Its tone is extremely dismissive, and is the typical British English response whenever a politician is deflecting an awkward question in a talk shows or interview.
trivial or foolish speech or writing; nonsense
silly, trivial, or pretentious talk or writing;
Other suitable synonyms that fit the OP's request would be:
From there strategical perspective, schizothemia:
schizothemia - Digression — (parekbasis in Greek, egressio, digressio and excursion in Latin) is a section of a composition or speech that is an intentional change of subject. In Classical rhetoric since Corax of Syracuse, especially in Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian,… …
From your observational perspective the conversation was a mataeology:
mataeology - a discourse that is fruitless or in vain. — mataeologian, n. — mataeological, adj.
Blowing hot air is a really good phrase so I will offer a concise word. I think jabber[ing] works perfect for a group of politicians arguing about nothing.
talk incessantly and trivially
A more Southern-based (and slang) term is jibber-jabber, as in:
I got tired of listening to all their jibber-jabber.
I've heard a number of terms from current and past jobs in corporate America that might be considered.
Useless conversation that's not solving the issue at hand because it's left the world of the strategic and become too detailed or academic may be said to be:
"going down a rat hole"
"getting in the weeds"
Correction is often initiated with phrases like:
"I think we're getting wrapped around the axle."
"Let's bring this back up to a 30,000 foot view of the problem."
"Let's keep separate issues separate."
"Our time is limited, I think we're going down a rat hole rather than focusing on the original topic."
"These are useful points to consider: let's put them in the parking lot and come back to them in a different session."
"I think we're trying to boil the ocean here."
Worst of all is a response someone may offer to someone explaining at length (or in a challenging tone of voice) a detailed part of the problem that is well-understood by almost everyone in the room. The disrespectful response to this understandably irritating situation is often simply: "Peace."
It's intent is supposed to be "I hear and understand the valid point you're making" or "you're preaching to the choir," but it's meaning in the moment often more directly resembles the speaker saying "shut up, I'm tired of hearing your gums flap."
'Small talk' - it's debatable whether it is useless or pointless but it generally doesn't have any information value.
Some more rhythmical alternatives: claptrap, monkey-junkie, bruhaha, helter-skelter, and higgledy-piggledy.
The first thing which comes to mind is "frivolous banter" or "badinage" ,although, it points to useless stuffs discussed in kitty-parties not politician meeting conversations. It can and usually is fun though. It may not be heated but it surely is useless.
Example: Teenage students these days are more engaged in badinage rather than their studies.
