"Jonathon wanted a discussion, when actually what he wanted was to sit at a table at the back of the pub with his friends bitching about how crap everything is and how nothing gets done and he's being oppressed"

I've known some people like that, and sometimes they can still be coaxed into having a fruitful discussion anyway. But that requires a considerable effort from the other party to check their own ego at the door, to avoid pusing buttons and steering the conversation to topics that they have something more positive to contribute. (Not that I'm claiming to have succeeded in that all that often.)